


Computers, Conspiring Idiots, and... Crushes?

by zkxxdlin



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Fluff, Getting Together, Humour, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-21
Updated: 2018-09-16
Packaged: 2019-06-30 13:57:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 38,640
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15753096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zkxxdlin/pseuds/zkxxdlin
Summary: Students Oh Sehun and Kim Jongin conspire to get their adorable tiny TA, Byun Baekhyun, get together with Hanyang University’s Daddyiest™ Professor, Park Chanyeol.Sure, Baekhyun did say that he’d rip their balls off if he ever found out about whatever plans they had, but honestly...He doesn’t have to know! And besides, they’re doing this FOR him anyway.The least he should be is grateful.





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First days of College are always eye-opening, especially as a TA. 
> 
> You're back where you started; you finally experience the College Life™ again; the constantly stressed but sleeping students, the (other) anxiety-stricken TAs, and the laid back yet professional teachers.
> 
> ... But developing a crush on the first day is also common, right? (Please?)

“Alright class, that’s a wrap for today!” the smooth, honey-toned voice of none other than Zhang Yixing, lecturer-in-charge of Creative Computing, rang about in the rather small, 80-seater lecture hall. He patiently watched as his students scrambled to get their laptops back in their cases and the freshly printed notes stuffed into their folders, trying to etch each face he glances at into his memory.

After all, they were going to be the same faces that he will be seeing for the rest of the semester; bright, aspiring musicians brimming with potential to become the next biggest musical sensation in South Korea, and possibly the globe. He watched as their young, youthful faces, although lightly marred with traces of excitement and intimidation topped with a dollop of anxiety, nervously returned the eye contact, with some even returning the welcoming smile with a small one of their own.

It was understandable as to why the students were so nervous, what with having one of the most famous music producers in the country as their _professor_ , of all things. Zhang Yixing was well-aware of his reputation in the music industry, but had returned to teaching just two years ago, after spending a decade of his life producing hit after hit and topping charts with every one of his released singles and albums that he partook in. He hoped that the students wouldn’t let their intimidation, or perhaps admiration, consume them, to the point where it would be counter-productive to their studies.

Most importantly, these people are students, and they are here to learn. Zhang Yixing is a teacher, and he is here to teach. Within the walls of Hanyang University in Seoul, South Korea, Zhang Yixing is no longer the ‘Nation’s Producer’, and neither is he ‘LAY’, but he is the (extra)ordinary Professor Zhang, who has a burning passion for music and teaching, and an even softer heart for his students.

The sound of papers ruffling about broke Yixing out of his reverie, and turned immediately towards the desk behind him, and could only watch fondly as his Teaching Assistant’s (TA) face burned bright red as he stared at the mess of the lecture’s notes that were surrounding his feet. A whole array of music sheets, lecture notes, and personal Moleskine notebooks littered the area around the short (although not much shorter than Yixing himself, but short nonetheless) TA, and Yixing couldn’t help the chuckle that left his mouth when the TA immediately crouched down to quickly pick up his items.

Yixing instinctively began to walk towards the small man and crouched to help him pick up his papers. He watched as his TA froze for a second, when Yixing knew that he was within extremely close vicinity of the TA, and how the ears sticking out of the soft mop of brown started to adopt a reddish hue.

_He’s adorable._

Yixing efficiently gathered up the papers that were pooling about the two of them, seeing as how his TA seemed frozen and had started to crawl back into his shell, if the way he drew back his arms and knees were any indication, and proceeded to hand them back to their rightful owner.

The TA quietly reached out to the neatly arranged papers and murmured a small, “Thank you, Professor Zhang.”

Yixing couldn’t help the small smile that stretched across his lips, internally cooing at how adorably nervous his assistant was being, and he also couldn’t help it when his hand reached out to pat the soft locks resting neatly atop the other man’s head as he replied with an “It’s no problem at all, Baekhyunnie, and don’t be so nervous! I don’t bite!”

The teaching assistant, Byun Baekhyun, slowly looked up as soon as Yixing’s reassuring words processed themselves in his muddled, nervous-wreck of a brain, and he subconsciously returned the gentle smile that he saw plastered on Yixing’s face.

“Thank you again, I’ll be more careful next time.” Baekhyun gripped the pile of papers tightly as he proceeded to stand up, following Yixing’s lead as the man pushed himself off of the floor and dusted the knees of his pants off of non-existent dust and lint.

“Please do! And remember to not hurt yourself, because I’m definitely going to be needing you in my classes,” Yixing replied, a hint of amusement ghosting over his features as a blush immediately blossomed across the cheeks of his assistant.

Yixing watched as Baekhyun gave a small bow and let out a sound of affirmation, in response to having heard what Yixing had to say, and Yixing realised that this was probably where they parted.

“Alright, I don’t have any more classes for today, and as far as I know, Jongdae, Professor Kim for you, doesn’t have classes after mine today either, so you’re—”

A loud cry of “ _Hyung!_ ” echoed about the walls of the lecture hall, the smooth yet gritty, deep-baritone’s impact ringing about the hall, cutting Yixing’s sentence off. The cry had not only interrupted the conversation between the two men, but had startled both of them as well as the remaining students that were quietly packing their things into their bags. All remaining pairs of eyes in the theatre turned towards the source of the noise, but the man responsible didn’t seem to notice, much less care, about how he was the centre of attention of about 20 people.

The man, sporting a bright, wide grin stretching from ear to ear, immediately rushed towards Yixing, who had turned his body around instinctively towards the source of the sound, and was greeted with none other than a bone crushing hug by someone who seemed _way_ too tall to be _just_ human.

The laugh that reverberated out of Yixing’s chest at the tangle of limbs that were wrapped around his body was joyous and heart-warming, and it pulled out smiles from the group of startled students littered about the hall, those who were leaving and those who were just entering.

However, only one person was left sporting an expression that didn’t seem to be affected by the happiness that was radiating about the room from the two men.

_He’s so… handsome._

His long body was wrapped impeccably in flattering cloths that hugged his limbs and torso _oh_ so perfectly, emphasising the firm lines of muscles tracing and winding about his arms and legs. The blue-striped button down shirt was folded up along his elbows, and with how tight those arms were wrapped around Yixing, it further glorified the already firm muscles, which were now held taut around the broad back of the legendary lecturer. The shirt was also visibly _clinging_ to the broad, thick shoulders, the horizontal stripes further stressing the wide width of those shoulders.

The sleek, black slacks, which were probably unimpressive on anyone else, somehow looked _extremely_ good wrapped around the man’s long legs, accentuating the length of the limbs and making the man look _much_ longer than he probably was.

_Not that, what, six feet…? is short or anything._

But… _God,_ the man’s body was nothing compared to his face. The way his wide eyes had initially been set beneath furrowed brows before lighting up in complete, pure unadulterated happiness as soon as those brown orbs landed on Yixing. The way his nose looked so _perfectly_ sculpted, with a prominent nose bridge that sloped elegantly to a sharp point that was so _damn attractive_ . The way those plump, pale-pink lips curved around a set of white, perfect teeth, and how can a plain, normal, everyday chin even be remotely labelled as _attractive_?

But having all of that framed with deep brown locks stylishly combed back, with a lock hanging above his eyebrows, forming a comma on the left side of his forehead…

Byun Baekhyun was a goner.

_He’s so handsome oh my god._

Baekhyun could feel his face flushing, the redness creeping up and blooming across his cheeks at a pace faster than one he had ever experienced before, and the urge to just _hide_ from the perfect man, model, Adonis, God himself (fuck it, Baekhyun doesn’t know), was so strong because _he’s so damn attractive what the fuck…!_

The initial bunch of To-Do lists that Baekhyun had in his head, the one with his agenda for the day, another one regarding the arrangement of the papers he was holding in his hands then, as well as another one for his schedule for the week, immediately burned themselves right then and there. There was suddenly zero processing going on in Byun Baekhyun Headquarters, replaced instead by blaring red letters reading:

_HARD DRIVE MALFUNCTION. SYSTEM SHUTDOWN._

Baekhyun could feel his hands start to perspire, beads of perspiration seeping through his pores and forming a slick barrier between his loosening palms and the sheets of paper that he was holding in his hands. Before he knew it (because he couldn’t process anything, "system shut down", remember?), the papers all slipped past his fingers and dispersed about the floor again.

The sound of scattering paper and fluttering sheets, as well as the lack of a heavy weight within his palms broke Baekhyun out of his attractive-man-induced haze, and he broke his gaze away from the devilishly handsome man towards the mess that was around his feet yet _again_. Quietly cursing under his breath at the mess (that was caused by his own clumsiness, no less), Baekhyun once again squatted down to begin collecting and collating the pile of papers.

In the midst of the whole mess, Byun Baekhyun HQ had started to somehow recover itself, but it was still a rather chaotic mess in there; everything and nothing at all was processing at the same time, because _I am such an idiot it’s literally my first day why am I such a mess CALM DOWN_ and also _he’s so attractive he’s so attractive he’s so attractive what do I do what do I do WHAT DO I DO._

Which is why Baekhyun couldn’t have possibly noticed the audible exchange of "goodbyes" that were shared by the two men, much less the pair of fresh, newly-bought leather dress shoes approaching him. He did notice, however, the sudden shadow that appeared in front of himself, which had dulled the colours of the papers on the floor, and he immediately pause.

Baekhyun could see when a thick, sinewy forearm reached out to grab the paper that was within closest vicinity, and Baekhyun couldn’t help how his eyes trailed upwards along the limb, from the thick fingers (on which there was a tattoo, “LOEY”, stamped on the left side of the middle finger), to the thick forearm, to the thick, bulging biceps, to the broad, thick shoulder, up a smooth, thick neck adorned with a prominent Adam’s apple, and up to the possibly most handsome face that Baekhyun has ever come across.

Possibly the most handsome face whose eyes were staring directly at Baekhyun.

“First day?” a deep, low murmur escaped the plump lips of the man and reverberated about Baekhyun’s ears, and Baekhyun immediately shook his head because _is he really talking to me?_

However, the man took that as a negative affirmation to his question, and couldn’t help furrowing his eyebrows in slight confusion. For as long as he was a teacher (which was going on five years), first-day teaching assistants usually behaved similarly to how the small man who was currently crouching in front of him was, and he didn't think twice about voicing his opinion out.

Baekhyun finally registered the question and the following statement, and he couldn’t help the light chuckle that escaped him, voice wavering slightly due to nervousness. “Ah, it _is_ my first day, sorry,” he scratched the back of his neck, a reflexive act to being put in a spot whenever his muddle-headedness was highlighted. “I’m just nervous, so I couldn’t process your question at first.”

At his response, the man released a light laugh that couldn't but help but escape, and the blinding smile that seemingly lit up the rest of his face, which further emphasised his perfect, God-like features reminded Baekhyun yet again of exactly how _handsome_ this man was.

Cue the blushing.

Quickly breaking the gaze that the man had him locked in, Baekhyun brought his gaze down towards the pile of papers in his lap, as well as the remaining papers littered around him. He quickly proceeded to collect the remaining papers, until the man’s previous statement ran through his head again, and a certain part caught his attention.

Immediately shooting his head up to meet the gaze of the man, Baekhyun questioned, “Wait, how did you know that I’m a TA?”

The man seemed startled, and he paused in his own collecting of the papers to meet the curiously confused gaze of the small man before him. He proceeded to furrow his brows before indicating with his free hand towards the bright red lanyard draped over the other’s neck, stamped with “HANYANG UNIVERSITY” over it, and down towards the card holder at the base of it. The card within the holder had the picture and details of the individual teaching assistant listed out, all under the bright, blocked red header stating “TEACHING ASSISTANT”.

Baekhyun cautiously glanced down, and he couldn’t help the bright flush creeping up his neck in embarrassment, as well as the dire need to have the floor open itself up and swallow him whole as he listened on to what the other man was saying.

“I mean, you were behaving like all the TAs I’ve had in the past on their first days,” he explains, “and all TA’s wear the red lanyard, and your University ID itself states it too… So…”

Baekhyun couldn’t help but face palm, although he did it with the papers that he was holding in his hands rather than with his palms itself. The low whisper of _I’m such an idiot_ did not escape the ears of the other man, and he couldn’t help the breathy laugh that rumbled out of his chest at that.

“It’s alright, everyone’s like that on their first day,” the man said as he pushed himself off of the floor after handing the remaining papers to their rightful owner. “Anyway, welcome to Hanyang!” The man ended off with a small grin, and Baekhyun felt the effects of the bright grin immediately, if the butterflies wreaking havoc about his tummy were any indication.

_He’s really so handsome._

Baekhyun couldn’t maintain the eye contact (his heart couldn’t, his stomach couldn’t, and neither could his brain. A whole second system shutdown was on its way to completion and Baekhyun would like to avoid that as much as possible thank you very much), so he flashed a quick, grateful smile and bowed his thanks.

“It’s no problem at all!” The man said as Baekhyun scrambled to quickly shove the papers into his bag and zipped it up. “I guess I’ll see you around?”

Baekhyun briefly glanced up to give a quick nod and a small smile, before he grabbed his swollen bag and his laptop. He murmured a low “bye!” before speeding out of the classroom, unaware of the small, fond smile gracing the lips of the handsome man as he watched the smaller scurry out of the lecture hall.

_Cute._

 

* * *

 

Focusing entirely on getting one foot in front of the other steadily and with a reasonable distance between the two, Baekhyun was clearly not paying attention to what was in front of him. He only stared at his feet and noticed, fleetingly, how the soft maroon carpet of the lecture hall immediately cut off to bleed into wooden panels and how his body was welcomed by a striking (although not worryingly so) difference in temperature.

Baekhyun slowly let out a sigh of relief, because he was finally out of the freezing lecture hall and was in the main hallway of the lecture halls in the Faculty of Music's main building.

_He can't see me now._

Letting out a much needed sigh, Baekhyun slowly leaned against the nearest wall of the corridor and let gravity do its job of pulling his bottom down to the ground. With each inch that he slid down the wall, Baekhyun could feel his lungs slowly start expanding again, muscles growing more relaxed, and Byun Baekhyun HQ _finally_ getting its shit together.

A sudden rumble of "Alright, I'm Professor Park Chanyeol, your professor for Sight Singing & Ear Training. But let's wait a while before we start, we're still pretty early—" rang through the hallways, and it got Baekhyun pausing in his ministrations.

 _God, even his_ voice _is sooooo perfect??_

Baekhyun slowly but steadily felt little hints of heat creeping up his neck, staining his slightly tanned skin a pale hue of red as memories of a ~~devilishly~~ _stupidly_ handsome man keep flashing in his head, from his ~~hot~~ _stupid_ swept back hair to his ~~charismatic~~ _idiotic_ smiles and grins and his ~~perfect~~ _ridiculous_ body that was wrapped in ~~amazing~~ _stupid_ clothes and—

" _AHHH_!" A shrill scream echoed about the emptying hallways of the building, and Baekhyun fleetingly realised that some of his own students were still littered about the hall, as well as some other faces he hadn't seen before. However, all of that faded into the background as Baekhyun sluggishly lifted his head out of the makeshift headrest that his sweater-clad arms temporary provided.

" _Why are you so damn handsome?!_ " Baekhyun lowly hissed into the crook of his elbow before he once again felt his cheeks heating up and—

"Would you stop blushing for once, oh my god!" Baekhyun cried, exasperation lacing each growing syllable. When he didn't feel the heat cooling down, but instead intensifying as he momentarily flickered his gaze over to the closed doors of the lecture hall from which he just left, Baekhyun quickly buried his burning face in his hands and proceeded to let out another, albeit muffled, scream into his palms.

Breathing quickly through his nose and harshly letting out his breath through his lips, eyes hidden beneath frustrated and frowning brows, Baekhyun quickly picked himself up off the floor and resolutely decided, then and there, to leave the premises.

Only _God_ knows how much longer he could survive if he was within vicinity of the man, much less constantly being reminded that he was literally only a few metres away from the perfectly sculpted human himself.

However, in his haste to get away from possibly the Most Handsome Man Alive In Like Ever™, Baekhyun failed, once again, to really focus on exactly where he was headed and what, or more importantly, _who_ was in front of him.

As soon as Baekhyun made the sharp corner of the hallway that led to the main entrance/exit of the university, head still down and filled with nothing but " _get away get away get away_ ", a hard chin made contact with the top of his head, followed by the rest of his body colliding with something just as hard. Before Baekhyun could realise it, he was being pulled back and was stumbling down to the ground, his bum landing harshly on the hard flooring of the hallway.

The first thought that ran through Baekhyun's head was, of course, _fucking_ ow _much?_ , but the second thought was his laptop which he had placed in his backpack, the same one that was on his back when he collided with whoever he had collided with, and a surge of panic immediately shot through his veins. Baekhyun's eyes widened, anxiety bleeding into his eyes and he swiftly reached around for his bag and pulled his laptop out.

It was literally the _first day_ , he couldn't afford the laptop he blew $5000 on to have any scratches or marks, but much less have any damage to its internal components because _it cost me my 6-month salary from that shitty waiter job to buy this thing._

After diligently and meticulously checking all parts of his laptop; from inspecting every single nook and cranny for possible scratches or marks to turning on his laptop to see whether it was still functioning (at least, enough to start up and shut down, in the very least), Baekhyun immediately let out a sigh of relief, eyes closing as he sent a silent grateful prayer up to the Man, because _thank you Lord for not letting my day get any shittier than it has been already._

Baekhyun's charade of sending a prayer up to God was interrupted by a deadly cold, borderline irritated voice cutting through the silence of the hallway.

"You know, it's only polite to apologise for knocking into someone, right?"

The speed in which Baekhyun had whipped his head up to face the other party, the one with whom he collided and had (ashamedly) forgotten about in place of his worry for his laptop, posed as a momentary concern for the other person.

The other person, a male who was dressed impeccably in a red-and-black checkered, collared shirt under an open blue blazer, with deep brown, long hair partly shadowing the fresh undercut hiding beneath the brown-tinted deep red locks.

 _Stylish_ , Baekhyun subconsciously noted.

However, Baekhyun couldn't help the flinch that his body reflexively released as soon as he made eye contact with the man; wide, round eyes set underneath strong, thick, but most importantly, frustration-induced furrowed eyebrows. Plump, almost heart-shaped lips set into an unamused, straight line, the little hints of frustration tugging the ends of his lips down just barely.

The intimidating aura radiating from the man thoroughly made up for his petite stature, making him seem much bigger than he actually was, and this time, the bright red letters spelling out " _SCARY_ " imprinted themselves on the front of his mind, the word _very_ clear and _very_ prominent.

Sputters of stammered apologies started to fly out of his mouth and Baekhyun scrambled to pick himself off of the ground, trying to multi-task by shoving his laptop back into its laptop case whilst making a grab for his unzipped bag as well. As soon as Baekhyun had his laptop haphazardly stuffed into its case, with it not even zipped up, and had his bag hooked on the crook of his elbow, the contents of it tilted at a dangerously precarious position, he reached out his free arm towards the other man who was still on the ground.

"I-I—," Baekhyun sucked in a breath, trying his hardest to calm down his frazzled mind, which seemed to affect his motor system and senses. After holding his breath for a good three seconds, Baekhyun slowly opened his eyes as he just as slowly released his breath, whole form relaxing and posture a lot less rigid, a bit more composed.

"I'm sorry for that," Baekhyun reached out his hand again, and sighed under his breath when the man accepted his hand, short fingers gripping tight around Baekhyun's longer, more slender ones, and pushed himself off the floor.

As soon as he was standing back to his full height, Baekhyun immediately began to rattle off his apologies.

"I'm really sorry about that, I'm just really nervous and I wasn't really looking at where I was going and I really hope I didn't hurt you and that you're okay?" Baekhyun sucked in a breath immediately after his short rant, lungs beginning to protest because all of that was said in one single breath.

The man, who was in the middle of dusting his khakis off of imaginary dust and lint, slowly brought his gaze up from his pants towards Baekhyun, eyes tracing over every single inch of Baekhyun's form as his eyes trailed from Baekhyun's shoes, all the way towards his face, a single brow raised.

Baekhyun gulped, beads of perspiration starting to dot his forehead, dampening his bangs, as he continued to hold the eye contact with the similar-statured man. However, seeing as how the man hasn't, and probably wasn't _willing_ to reply, and with how much more intense his gaze got with each passing second, the gaze became too much for Baekhyun soon enough and he immediately brought his eyes down to his shoes.

"...I'm sorry," Baekhyun murmured again, a last attempt at being polite and because he truly indeed was sorry, before making an attempt to escape the man and run back home to hide under his covers because _today just could not get worse_.

However, Baekhyun's attempt at an escape was proven futile when he felt a hand grip the nook of his elbow, and Baekhyun instantly seized up, almost afraid of what the other man would attempt to do, or worse, _say_.

Yet, Baekhyun ended up being surprised by the words that spilled out of the man's lips, as they greatly contradicted the hundreds of possible sentences that Baekhyun _thought_ could have slipped out from his lips.

"Your case is still unzipped, and your papers are going to drop out if you continue on like that," came the deep, rich voice, and Baekhyun couldn't help but be surprised by it because a voice as deep as that was not something that Baekhyun would have ever expected coming out from a man who was similar to him in build, maybe even slightly _smaller_.

An unintelligent "...what?" left Baekhyun's parted lips, mind not able to really process that this small man had a voice that was similar in tone to what Baekhyun thinks is the devil, because _that is just not natural_.

The man just sighed, breaking the sharp gaze he had set on Baekhyun and landing his gaze on his own shoes, not unlike what Baekhyun had done just a few second ago, before sighing and meeting Baekhyun's confused gaze again.

"Your bag," the man pointedly gestured to Baekhyun's unzipped bag, with the contents just a wind's blow away from slipping past the sad excuse of a barricade that the cloth of the bag was acting as. "Also, your laptop's case is yet to be zipped too."

Baekhyun blankly brought his gaze down to his bag hanging limply on the crook of his elbow, as well as to his laptop that was carelessly shoved into its bag, and now that he was paying attention, it seemed more like the laptop case packing itself into the case rather than the laptop.

Baekhyun couldn't help flushing in light embarrassment as he let out a low "ah...", before trying to discreetly release his trapped arm from the man's firm grip in an attempt to pull out his laptop and re-pack it. His efforts were rendered successful, as the grip on his elbow loosened completely and the other man had let him go.

However, he certainly wasn’t expecting the other man to continue the conversation, and hence it honestly wasn’t surprising when Baekhyun himself got startled at hearing the man’s voice, much less what he had to say.

"Listen," Baekhyun blinked, "I'm sorry if I scared you."

A pair of black Converse sneakers steadily creeped into the edges of his vision, and Baekhyun slowly brought his gaze up to trace along the entire silhouette of the man, until a hand in the middle of nowhere halted his study of the man's stature.

It took a while for Baekhyun to process just exactly what was happening, because his mind was really in no better state than his entire physical state right now (plus the fact that he experienced multiple system shutdowns barely minutes ago because a certain _stupid_ _someone_ couldn't stop being so damn handsome). Unzipped backpack hanging loosely off of the crook of his elbow, laptop hanging precariously out of its case, and mind muddled... and with how scary this man he bumped into was, it really didn't help his brain processes at all.

"I know my gaze can be a little intimidating," the now familiar deep baritone echoed softly about the corridor, and Baekhyun cautiously brought his eyes towards the source. "I have astigmatism, and I forgot to bring my glasses with me today." And Baekhyun noticed that, the longer that the other man was talking, the more... _soothing_ his voice became. Considering the fact that the man was simply talking, with no hints of irritation or anger lacing its undertones, it _was_ pretty nice to listen to.

"I'm sorry for that again, and," with this, the man took a deeper breath in, before slowly releasing it out in one quick huff, "I'm Do Kyungsoo, TA for Sight Singing & Ear Training, and Chorus." The hand that was thrusted out seemingly in the middle of nowhere (at least, in Baekhyun's perspective), once again reappeared, however looking much more welcoming and well, _purposeful_ as compared to before.

Baekhyun looked up towards the man again, and was very much pleasantly surprised at how cherubic he looked, wide eyes looking bashfully hopeful, and a warm, friendly smile plastered on his lips. The slight tilts of the corners of his lips caused his cheeks to balloon up, and Baekhyun was taken aback at how much _softer_ the man looked right now as compared to literally just three minutes ago.

However, the smile started to droop a little at the edges the longer Baekhyun stayed silent, and Baekhyun could feel the little slivers of confusion slowly seeping back into his mind as the hand that was outstretched started retreating.

"Hey," whipping his head up from the hand to the man's face, Baekhyun's eyes blew wide open because _he was introducing himself you dimwit he was being friendly and now you've come off like an asshole!_

"Are you oka—" Before the man, _Kyungsoo_ , could finish, Baekhyun immediately stuck out his hand and, with a frantic shake of his head, he quickly reached out for Kyungsoo's previously outstretched hand and began rattling off his end of the introduction.

"Hi! Yes, I'm Byun Baekhyun, TA for Creative Computing and Chorus!" Giving the hand encased between his own a firm shake, Baekhyun remembered to flash his signature grin (the one which everyone back in college and before fell for), causing his cheeks to bloom and his eyes to turn into tiny little crescents.

A look of shock veiled Kyungsoo's features at Baekhyun's sudden outburst, before it was washed away barely seconds later by relief. Shoulders sagging, lips tilting up into a content, relieved smile, Kyungsoo enveloped their hands with his unoccupied one.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Baekhyun, and..." Kyungsoo thought back to what Baekhyun had said earlier, "You said you're a TA for Chorus too?"

Baekhyun brightened at that, and he let go of their clasped hands the same time that Kyungsoo did.

"Ah, yeah," Baekhyun shuffled a little with the load he had in his arms, "I'm Professor Kim Jongdae's TA!” Baekhyun exclaimed, a wide smile on his face. “And since he doesn't have class today, and I just finished my Creative Computing class with _the_ Zhang Yixing, I'm free to go home now!"

Immediately noticing the way Baekhyun was subtly struggling with the mess of things he had in his arms, Kyungsoo quickly gestured for Baekhyun to settle his things down on the ground, allowing him some ease in packing his things properly.

"Wow, Professor Zhang, really?" Kyungsoo questioned, to which Baekhyun nodded his head rapidly, smile much too bright and happy for a Monday. "Damn, that's cool."

Baekhyun only laughed slightly, pulling his backpack from the nook of his elbow to place it in front of his kneeling knees. "Yeah, I'm pretty excited to see how the rest of this semester pans out." He ended off, a tiny smile pulling one the right corner of his lips up.

"... And you mentioned about having Chorus with Professor Kim?" Kyungsoo voiced, looking expectantly at Baekhyun with a little twinkle glittering his eyes, something that Baekhyun couldn't really decipher.

"Yup, why?" he questioned, head tilting a little to the right as he began working through the bundle of papers that were _supposed_ to be neatly arranged in the sleek white folder he bought the day before.

"Well," a tiny smile graced Kyungsoo's lips, "I guess we'll be seeing each other more often, then."

Baekhyun grew perplexed, because _huh?_

"Wait, you're in Professor Kim’s class?" he asked, to which Kyungsoo laughed and nodded his head yes, neatly zipping up Baekhyun's laptop back into its case before proceeding to hand it back to its original owner. "Woah, I never thought I'd meet one of his students toda—" Carefully yet gratefully taking back his zipped up laptop case from Kyungsoo, Baekhyun traced his stature yet again, although this time from the torso up, because he wasn't able to do so previou—

"You're a TA?!" Baekhyun gasped, eyes wide and mouth agape, eyes trained on the red lanyard draped over Kyungsoo's neck, the _same_ one draped around Baekhyun's own.

Kyungsoo could only stare at Baekhyun, a hint of confusion and amusement tracing the frown lines on his face. "Uh, yeah," Kyungsoo started, hesitantly, "I said it a while ago, didn't I?"

At Kyungsoo's pretty much _dumbfounded_ stare, Baekhyun couldn't help the way his palm instinctively reached up to smack his forehead. Kyungsoo _did_ introduce himself just now, and probably stated just what his role in the University was. Baekhyun was just too chicken-headed to hear, much less process, any of it at that time.

Sighing, Baekhyun brought his hand back down only to gaze apologetically at Kyungsoo. "I'm really sorry, I probably didn't catch anything apart from your name," Baekhyun stated, "I was much too frazzled to really process anything just now."

Kyungsoo let out an amused chuckle, shaking his head as he explained that it was alright, before introducing himself once more. Kyungsoo reached out his hand again, and Baekhyun shook it, both understanding that _this_ introduction was their proper, official one.

Kyungsoo watched as Baekhyun finally got all of his items packed neatly and properly placed on him; backpack secure on his two shoulders, zipped up laptop case sitting on his forearm and pressed to his chest. Giving Baekhyun a once over one last time, Kyungsoo deemed him no longer a safety hazard and stood up to his feet, offering a hand for Baekhyun to take to pull up him too, one which the latter took gratefully.

"I guess I'll see you tomorrow then, Baekhyun!" Kyungsoo smiled, dusting off his pants once both of them were back on their two feet, "I'm actually running a little late for Professor Park's class, so catch you later!" He said, before politely bowing. Once Kyungsoo saw Baekhyun reciprocate the bow, he allowed himself to leave the presence of the other man and quickly scurried down the corridor towards his next class.

Baekhyun kept his eyes trained on Kyungsoo's back, watching the blazer part open and flare about his sides at the rapid speed he was brisk walking, and that was when whatever Kyungsoo said finally processed.

... _TA for Sight Singing & Ear Training! _

_... I'm Professor Park Chanyeol, your lecturer for Sight Singing & Ear Training... _

_... I'm actually running a little late for Professor Park's Class..._

_... Professor Park Chanyeol._

_... Park... Chanyeol..._

_... Chanyeol..._

_…_

_…_

_…_

"STOP BLUSHING GOD DAMN IT!"

 

* * *

 

"Hey," Kyungsoo called, walking over to where Baekhyun was crouched on the floor, sheets of papers sprawled in an organised mess in front of him, "Sorry, SSET ran a little late."

Baekhyun looked up from the neatly arranged chaos; an entire stack of papers were handed to him just minutes ago by Professor Kim, _the_ Kim Jongdae, if Baekhyun might add.

Similar to Professor Zhang, or _Lay_ , as he was more commonly known as, Professor Kim had made his mark in the music industry, his most remarkable talent being that of his voice. Having been dubbed one of the Globe's Most Versatile, Talented, Vocalists (if Baekhyun remembers correctly), the mere utterance of the legend's name immediately brings forth to one's mind tons of significant accolades and legendary breakthroughs in the Korean music industry. "Kim Jongdae" was a household name in South Korea back when he was promoting as an artist.

The Nation's Vocalist, indeed.

And, unsurprisingly, Kim Jongdae's an alumni of Hanyang, having graduated a year after Zhang Yixing. On the day of his announcement of his retirement as an artist, Kim Jongdae had stated that he would be going back to his school to teach the students there, and although that was all that was said, the underlying humility and loyalty that was so clearly showcased had managed to warm and soothe the hurt hearts of his fans then.

Having shown that he wanted to give back to the very school that, and I quote, "made me who I am today", Kim Jongdae had spread warmth in the citizens' hearts yet again.

Now, back in Hanyang, Jongdae's skills as a talented vocalist were slowly being passed down from student after student, all of which had grown to be successful in their own right and area of expertise, from intense, crazy rock to heartbreaking ballads, his students' growth and talent clearly spoke for themselves and Kim Jongdae.

... And here, now, Baekhyun and Kyungsoo would be able to witness the man in his very own domain.

But before that, both of them have to get the class' shit together.

"Hey," Baekhyun greeted back, scooting a little backwards to make space for Kyungsoo, who quickly knelt down across the other man, "it's alright, I'm mostly done anyway."

Kyungsoo eyed the papers in front of them, counting the number of separated piles, and glanced back to the thicker stack in Baekhyun's hands. Quickly deducing that they needed to arrange and separate the class notes for each student, Kyungsoo asked Baekhyun for a stapler.

Swiftly handing over the stapler, Baekhyun got back to separating each set of notes from the larger pile, while Kyungsoo got to work on stapling each arranged set together.

The two worked in companionable, although still hinted with a little awkwardness, silence. Having known each other for less than a day, it was pretty understandable why there was still an air of awkwardness around them. However, Baekhyun has never liked awkwardness, neither does he like formality, which was why it didn't take him long to break the silence with a question of his own.

"Kyungsoo," Baekhyun called, looking up from the papers in his hands, and meeting gazes with the said man sitting across of him, "What took the class so long? It's only the second day, isn't it?"

Baekhyun could see the way Kyungsoo's shoulders relax a little more from their slightly stiff position, and how his face slowly melted from its rigidity and into an appreciative smile.

"Yeah, but Professor Park's really passionate about this module, it spills into the way he teaches," Kyungsoo replied, proceeding to look back down at the papers in his hands, stapling them together and setting them atop the rest of the stapled notes set.

At the mention of the Man Who ~~Can't~~ Shall Not Be Named ~~Because Byun Baekhyun Can't Control His Damn Feelings~~ , Baekhyun slowly but steadily felt the little tendrils of heat creeping up his neck, obvious signs of _yet another_ blush marring his cheeks at the mere _mention_ of the professor.

Vivid images from his memory capturing the one and only Professor Park from the day before started presenting themselves as a slideshow in panic mode; image after image and it was almost like a stop-motion film playing (and _only_ that Park Chanyeol Perfection Presentation slideshow) in BBH HQ.

Gritting his teeth in frustration at how much of an inexperienced adolescent he was behaving like, Baekhyun immediately buried his chin into his hoodie, yanking the collar up to the bridge of his nose in hopes of hiding his flaming, scarlet cheeks from any and all eyes, curious or not.

However, Baekhyun completely forgot that Kyungsoo was there with him, and was probably waiting for a response, and the sudden deep timbre asking whether Baekhyun was fine had startled the blushing man.

Jolting up from where he had half of his face buried in his hoodie, slightly wincing from the sharp snagging of the collar on his cheeks, Baekhyun quickly nodded his affirmation, blatantly refusing to keep eye contact with Kyungsoo.

Kyungsoo, being the ever observant man that he was, immediately noticed Baekhyun's sudden... absurd(?) behaviour; it was very much a completely different Baekhyun than the one he had conversed with the day before, and it got Kyungsoo a little confused.

"You sure you're okay?" Kyungsoo questioned, thick brows furrowed and gathering at the centre of his forehead; the confusions and slight apprehension visible in the faint frown lines marring the skin of his face.

Kyungsoo sounded genuinely concerned, and Baekhyun couldn't help but internally laugh at the irony of it all; an acquaintance of his was worried over how he couldn't help his feelings over a hot teacher he saw just _a day_ ago.

Which was not only utterly ridiculous, but completely redundant. Because as thankful as Baekhyun was for Kyungsoo's gentle and minute fussing over him, Kyungsoo honestly had nothing to worry about.

Nodding his head "yes", Baekhyun brushed off Kyungsoo's much-appreciated concern with a simple "Yeah, probably the weather, I guess."

... Which only succeeded in making Kyungsoo even more confused because as far as he knows, the weather had been pretty stable and tame the past few days...

 _But to each their own_ , he guesses, before shrugging his shoulders and proceeding to focus back on the unstapled stacks around him.

A silent sigh of utter relief escapes Baekhyun, before he slowly goes back to splitting the last two sets of notes and lays them out before Kyungsoo, who, being extremely efficient, as Baekhyun had noticed, was done with all the paper stacks asides from the two freshly laid ones. Swiftly picking up the stacks and neatly arranging them such that all papers were aligned and in order, Kyungsoo quickly stapled them and placed them on top of the other stapled sets.

"I guess we're done now," Baekhyun said, getting up from his crouched position and offered a hand out to Kyungsoo once he was securely back on his two feet.

"Yeah, let's go join Profess—"

"Alright everyone, gather around!" a loud voice boomed about the auditorium, and all eyes zeroed in on the man cladded in all black making his way to the centre of the stage. Donning a sleeveless top, skin-tight black jeans, and a pair of boots on his feet, Kim Jongdae was _definitely_ a sight one wouldn't expect to see on the first lesson, like, _ever_.

Although, the fact that he was the most eccentrically-casually dressed person in the room didn't seem to bother him in the slightest.

Well, he _was_ the professor, after all.

All the students quickly scrambled up from their littered positions about the auditorium, and proceeded to climb up the steps to the stage, where Jongdae was.

Glancing at each other, Baekhyun and Kyungsoo quickly made to walk over to the centre of the stage, just a little outside of their circle and a couple of steps behind the last student, standing diagonally across from Jongdae.

The said man had his eyes focused on the sheet of paper in his hands, a black pen hooked around his forefinger and a pencil elegantly placed behind his ear.

... _And how the hell does one even manage to pull off a pencil-behind-the-ear in the 21st century_ , is what Baekhyun had running through his mind as he gave Kim Jongdae ( _Kim Jongdae!!!_ ) a once-over, taking in the exuberant fashion sense (at least, within the walls of one of the most prestigious colleges in South Korea) and finally, the _aura_ that he was radiating.

The years of hard work, talent, and confidence had clearly showcased themselves through the poise and grace in which Kim Jongdae was holding himself up with; and it got everyone in the hall captivated. Complete and utter silence, driven only by awe and disbelief, enveloped the entire 2,000 seater auditorium. Some students even had their lips parted slightly in awe, simply taking in the ethereal being that was Professor Kim.

The man himself still had his gaze focused on the papers in his hand, eyes flitting over the ink printed on the pristine, white sheets. Once his eyes scanned through the last line of the paper, Kim Jongdae immediately set the papers aside and glanced up, finally meeting the awed expressions of all those seated in front of him.

Understanding the state that they were in, after all, he _was_ Kim Jongdae.

Keyword: _was._

Because right now, within the walls of this auditorium and within the perimeters of the University, "Kim Jongdae" was no longer, and only _Professor Kim_ exists, because that's what and who he really was.

Clapping his hands together once, Jongdae flashed his signature cheshire grin, scanning the persons seated in front of him and making sure to make eye contact with each and every student of his. The warmth glowing in his eyes was more than enough to soothe the slight anxiety that hung in the air, and the ambience of the auditorium quickly became much more welcoming.

Slowly, but steadily, each student returned the same warm smile that Jongdae had given each and every one of them, and the effect on their entire being was immediate; shoulders relaxing, spine loosening and making way for a straighter, more confident posture, and lungs slowly expanding, welcoming the air back into them.

Jongdae grinned once he felt the calmness radiate from his students, and gave a firm nod before introducing himself.

"Hello, I'm Professor Kim Jongdae," Jongdae started, hands locked behind his back as he scanned through the crowd once more, "You can address me as Professor Kim, and I'll be your lecturer for Chorus." Jongdae paused in his introduction as his students greeted him back. "Anyway, before all of that, let's give a round of applause to all of you for getting into Hanyang!"

A round of applause and a few whoops and hollers echoed about the hall as the students cheered on, Jongdae even joining in on the hollering. "It wasn't easy, right?" he questioned, to which he received a chorus of fervent nods from the youth seated in front of him. Jongdae let out a laugh at that, because he himself knew just how hard one had to work to break free from the insane competition in the South Korean education system, and how much harder they had to work in order to get into Hanyang, _the_ , if not one of the most prestigious universities in the whole of South Korea.

"Congratulations, everyone, and welcome to Hanyang!" Jongdae exclaimed, hands flying upwards as he gave a round of applause for his students, which was eagerly followed.

As soon as the applause died down, Jongdae carried on. "Alright, so before we go into introductions and our first lesson, let's set some ground rules first, alright?" Jongdae said, and after receiving a series of nods did he continued.

"So, first things first; in this classroom and in this University, I am Professor Kim, and not the Vocalist Kim Jongdae. Hence, view me as your professor and advisor, and not the artist." A note of seriousness laced his tone, and the cheerful atmosphere turned down a notch as each person in the room paid close attention to what Jongdae was saying. "Also, make as many mistakes as you can. Within these walls is where you fall, fail, and cry. But it is also within these walls do you grow, develop, and blossom. It is within these walls where you become what you can and are supposed to be. So fall, stumble, and land face first, because I am here to catch you, to teach you, and to nurture you.

"And because of that, I feel very strongly for developing a learning environment that is free of judgement and only filled with kindness, sincerity, and humility. You will all go through the same things for the next four years, so there will be no need for discrimination or segregation. Yes, we all come from different backgrounds, but our goals are the same. So be there for each other, and don't forget that I will also be there for you too." Jongdae finished.

A slow but steady round of applause built up, before the students were once again cheering, the meaningful speech etching itself into the minds and hearts of the students.

Jongdae let out a light giggle at that, before quickly calming his students down and urging them to settle down. "Alright, now let's get on to introductions!" Jongdae exclaimed, "I'll call up your names at random from the attendance list here—" Jongdae immediately pulling out and waving the white sheet that he previously was glancing through— "and you will tell me your name, and demonstrate something that you are good at, or a little quirk that you have!" Jongdae elaborated. "From singing, to maybe having moles at unexpected places, anything is welcomed!"

The explanation resulted in the pool of students nervously glancing about the auditorium, wrecking their brains about what they should demonstrate because there was this underlying pressure to _stand out_ , and be _remembered_.

And Jongdae, quickly noticing the increasingly tense atmosphere, jumped into a few details which he had yet to disclose to the class.

"But before that", Jongdae paused, waiting for his students to calm down and focus back on him again, "We'll have two TAs to help conduct our classes." Jongdae glanced over at the two persons seated just slightly away from the main circle of students, flashing them a quick smile because, whilst he was seemingly interacting with the students and the students alone, he definitely did not forget about the two TAs, the two persons he would be working closely together with for the next semester.

"They will be my proxys, and in the event where I am not available, you can turn to them for any help or question that you have." Jongdae gestured over to both Baekhyun and Kyungsoo, and beckoned for them to stand beside himself and be visible to the rest of the class.

Swiftly getting up from their cross-legged positions of the floor, both Baekhyun and Kyungsoo quickly strode over to where Jongdae was standing, and finally faced the group of students they would be working with for the next semester, and possibly more.

Baekhyun could feel his hands getting clammy and perspiration beading across his forehead, and Kyungsoo was definitely not doing much better than he was, if the slight notes of anxiety radiating off the man were of any indication.

Jongdae let out a smooth chuckle at the sight of the two TAs, finding their adorably nervous states amusing, before soothingly telling them to not worry, and if they were even paying attention to what Jongdae was saying earlier. "There will be no discrimination and segregation within these four walls, remember?" Jongdae cheekily grinned, meeting gazes with the two TAs, and patiently waited for small smiles to grace their features before he nodded, seemingly satisfied, and turned back to face the class.

Baekhyun and Kyungsoo both were visibly much more relaxed, and, albeit still slightly nervous, could confidently meet the welcoming, soft gazes of the students. With each warm gaze they met, both TAs felt the grip that anxiety previously held onto their hearts and frame steadily loosen and ebb away, to the point where it was nearly non-existent.

"Alright, so let's have our TAs introduce themselves, shall we?" Jongdae grinned, meeting the surprised gazes of his TAs, and he immediately got the message. "What, you thought the introduction section applied only to the students?" he laughed, before he nudged the two of them and quickly bounced over to the back of the circle, taking the same spot which both TAs had previously taken.

Baekhyun and Kyungsoo took a nervous glance at each other, almost at a loss for what to do, before Kyungsoo quickly mouthed " _You go first!_ "

A look of complete shock veiled Baekhyun's face, surprised that _Kyungsoo_ was saying that. He could only stare in shock as a slight hint of mischievousness swirled about in the large orbs of the other TA, and how he took subtle steps back, making it such that Baekhyun was the main focus on the stage.

And Baekhyun felt... _betrayed_ , for some reason.

He knew he was being childish, but he couldn't help it!

"Alright, let's go! A round of applause, everyone!" Jongdae exclaimed, breaking Baekhyun from his state of shock and disbelief because _wow Kyungsoo who knew omg_.

Quickly glancing up to face the expectant faces of the crowd, Baekhyun quickly took a deep breath in, before slowly letting it out, allowing all tendrils of shock, of _betrayal_ , as well as nervousness leave his very being. Once Baekhyun felt his usual confidence seep into his very bones, because _I am Byun Baekhyun, thank you very much_ , Baekhyun started off his introduction.

"Hello, I'm Byun Baekhyun, and you can call me Baekhyun," quickly flashing a cute smile (if the TA could say so himself), which had garnered a few smaller, yet equally as welcoming smiles in return, Baekhyun continued. "And, I guess my talent is singing!"

Baekhyun noticed how the students' eyes grew wider in expectation, and how Jongdae's stance had grown more relaxed, although his gaze was definitely expectant and of course, encouraging.

Flashing an even cuter grin, Baekhyun once more took a few deep, calming breaths, before belting out the infamous high note verse from EXO's "El Dorado".

_Now we’re here_

_수많은_ _시간들이_ _우릴_ _스치고_

 _더_ _펼쳐진_ _날들이_

 _난_ _더욱_ _기대가_ _돼_

 _날_ _믿어_ _준_ _그들에게_ _옳았다고_

 _증명해_ _보일_ _거야_

Finally reaching the end of the verse, Baekhyun hadn't realised that he had unconsciously closed his eyes, and quickly fluttered them open to face the crowd once again, not knowing what to expect.

However, a soon as Baekhyun met gazes with the rest of the class, he couldn't help but be pleasantly surprised at the sheer awe and surprise that laced the rims of the widened eyes and lines of smiles and gaped lips.

Letting out a shy chuckle, Baekhyun quickly shied away from the unexpected attention that everyone in the room had solely focused on him, shoulders quickly hunching up towards his ears as his fingers fiddled with themselves at the small of his back. With his chin lowered and ears slowly but surely staining themselves a faint hue of red, Baekhyun quickly gave a quiet thanks and an ever grateful and deep bow, before stepping back.

At the sudden movements of Baekhyun, everyone in the room immediately burst into applause; the sounds of clapping, hollering, and whooping ringing about the walls of the auditorium. Jongdae himself was hosting a pleased, pleasantly surprised smile on his lips as he applauded his TA along with the rest of the students.

Baekhyun couldn't help the satisfied grin from blossoming on his face as he scurried over to where Kyungsoo was standing (the latter in a state of pleasant shock as well, hands moving unconsciously in claps), giving one more deep bow before nudging for Kyungsoo to take his place and introduce himself.

Baekhyun had a surprising amount of strength when he got all shy and embarrassed, because before Kyungsoo knew it, he was stumbling forwards towards the crowd, the buzz of excitement and surprise still very much apparent. However, as soon as the students noticed that the second TA had come forward, the applause quietened down, and the same previous atmosphere that welcomed Baekhyun had returned, only this time, it was _definitely_ heightened.

Kyungsoo glanced over to where Baekhyun was, and upon noticing that the other TA was giving him two thumbs-up, along with his adorable grin, Kyungsoo couldn't help but chuckle. And it was with that chuckle did the remaining traces of anxiety leave his body, and Kyungsoo too took in a few deep breaths to soothe his rather frazzled nerves.

Deciding on the English rendition of EXO's "For Life", Kyungsoo's voice soon flooded the auditorium.

_The storms may come_

_And winds may blow_

_I'll be your shelter for life_

_This love, this love_

_I mean it till the day I die_

_Oh, never gonna let you go_

_Giving you my heart and soul_

_I'll be right here with you for life_

The last note that left the lips of the younger TA echoed about the auditorium, and Kyungsoo opened his eyes to meet those of everyone else in the hall.

The reaction that Kyungsoo got was not unlike Baekhyun's at all, Jongdae's reaction included, and it wasn't long before exclamations of " _Damn,_ both _of them are so good?!_ " and " _Holy shit just how talented is everyone here?_ " coupled along with a few others started filling up the silence. Kyungsoo  himself couldn't help but feel slightly overwhelmed at the sheer amount of praise that each student and Jongdae himself was giving to him, and started to shy away, in a manner very much similar to Baekhyun, thanking his audience gratefully before scurrying away to where Baekhyun was.

Baekhyun let out a deep laugh at Kyungsoo's embarrassed scurrying, knowing that that was how he had looked like just a few minutes earlier. Patting Kyungsoo's shoulder as a recognition for a job well done, Baekhyun smiled warmly at Kyungsoo, which the latter reciprocated before both of them turned back to face Jongdae, who was making his way to the front of the circle once more.

"Wow!", Jongdae exclaimed, hands already poised to clap as he took large strides around the circumference of the circle of students, "Another round of applause for our TAs, everyone!"

An encore of applause followed, which got both TAs laughing shyly and giving their thanks and gratitude towards their audience. Jongdae flashed them a friendly smile as he gestured to them that they could return to their "self-assigned floor seats", which both TAs got and speedily walked across the stage to where they were previously seated.

 

* * *

 

Baekhyun and Kyungsoo's jaws hung open in awe as they stared at the sheer grace and elegance that the current student was exhibiting; he took the phrase most associated with dance, "your floor is the canvas, and your body the brush" quite literally. Every step, spin, dip, and jump was executed with pure perfection, and literally everyone else was left agape in admiration.

Kim Jongin, that was his name.

As the final note of the soft pop song tapered off into nothingness, Kim Jongin finally graced his audience with his gaze. Smouldering deep brown orbs ignited with sheer determination and flaming passion greeted each student as soon as Jongin's gaze landed on them. His entire frame, although clear in its post-intense-dance state; chest moving up and down rapidly, lips parted, warmly welcoming the oxygen into his lungs, was still very much poised and seemingly ready to break into another gob-smacking routine.

However, as soon as the first clap broke the silence of the room, the intimidating aura surrounding Jongin then, which spoke of pure confidence, experience, and passion, slowly started to ebb away with each clap joining the applause.

To Baekhyun, it was similar to watching a renowned renaissance era sculptor turning a very intricate, exquisite, one of a kind stature of a powerful demon, slowly knocking into and turning it into...

... a cute, tiny cub.

Frame immediately loosening from its Dance God stance; feet drawing closer together and arms clapping themselves against his sides, shoulders unconsciously rising to shell his ears from the very much well-deserved praise as his chin dug into his chest. Although, that method of hiding his face was definitely a poor attempt at hiding the blossoming grin stretching across his face.

Eyes scrunching up adorably, Jongin quickly hid his face behind his palms, before giving one more final, grateful bow and hurried away.

... And Baekhyun was left in shock, because...

_What the hell was that?_

Because, let's face it, how could you even go from some demonic power beast who literally had everyone wrapped around his fingers, to something so... _cute_ , in barely five seconds?

Eyes flitting over to where Jongin currently was; hiding his face in this other student's neck, an _Oh Sehun_ , if Baekhyun remembered correctly.

Now thinking back to it, them being friends didn't really surprise Baekhyun. Both of them were extremely talented dancers, and, if Baekhyun were to say so himself, but more... _advanced_ , per say, as compared to the other students.

Sehun had gone up a few students before Jongin did, and although their dance styles were different, Sehun had still managed to nail his routine almost effortlessly.

A much more laid back, street style routine was what greeted the reflective platform of the stage of the auditorium.  The pops, locks, and waves were supported and emphasised by the self-composed song playing in the background, a track titled "Go" that was pieced together by none other than the student himself.

The vocals accompanying the track did surprise Baekhyun, but it definitely did suit the student, he realised. The notes were nothing Mariah Carey like, but their subdued tones and pacing probably would be able to sell just as well.

Music isn't _all_ about high notes and dolphin squeaks, you know.

Also, Baekhyun was now very aware that this certain Oh Sehun was definitely one of the more, say, _prepared_ ones, remembering having seen him amongst the crowd of 80 students or so in Yixing's Computer Music class yesterday. If anyone had prior experience regarding mixing and creating music from scratch through digital music softwares, they probably wouldn't experience that much difficulty with Yixing's class.

But much more than that, Baekhyun was definitely impressed with what Sehun had showcased, and the brimming excitement at the possible future prospects of being able to work with Sehun and see what else he had to offer definitely played a part in the sudden rush of adrenaline in his veins.

But the main cause was...

"Jongdae!" a deep, rough voice exclaimed, and not just _any_ deep, rough, voice, but _the_ deep, rough voice. The same one that had been plaguing Baekhyun's daydreams (which were honestly one too many, considering how he literally only met the man _yesterday_ ), unspoken a ~~nd definitely will-never-be-spoken-of~~ dreams of having that same gritty voice wrap about the syllables of Baekhyun's own name.

The harsh beating of his heart against his ribcage echoed loudly in his ears, the substantial ruckus the students were causing fading into bleak nothingness in the background. Baekhyun could feel his blood rushing through his veins up his cheeks, staining the slightly tanned skin a soft, pink hue.

Although the same couldn't be said for his ears though...

His infamous dumbo ears were _bright red_.

Immediately pulling his knees closer to his chest, Baekhyun subtly buried his face into them, shoulders hunching up around his ears in hopes of hiding his embarrassingly red ears from the rest of the crowd, most especially, from _Park Chanyeol_.

"Whaddaya want?" Baekhyun heard Jongdae shout back, although his voice was much less louder and echo-y as compared to Chanyeol's... which could only mean that _he_ was getting closer.

Cue Armadillo Baekhyun.

"... I haven't seen you in three months and _this_ is how you greet me?" Chanyeol said, hints of disbelief and faint traces of amusement lining his words, which managed to pull out a few good-natured chuckles from the students and a good laugh from Jongdae.

A loud clapping sound rang about the auditorium which drew Baekhyun out of his foetal position, curious yet shy eyes peeking from behind his bangs as he rested his chin on his knees, gaze fixed on the two professors who were currently the center of attention.

Jongdae had pulled Chanyeol in for the typical _bro_ hug; hands clasped together in-between their chests as the other arm wraps around the back of their partner, but the bright grins on their faces, as well as the soft murmurs of "It's good to see you"s, and "It's been a while"s exchanged between the two spoke volumes about how much they were really glad to see the other.

The genuineness radiating from the short exchange definitely had caused a shift in the auditorium's air; whilst previously it was electric with fun and elation, it had now been infiltrated by little wisps of contentment and fondness.

Peeking out from under his fringe a little (because he was curious, _duh_ , totally not because the Adonis that was Park Chanyeol was there, totally _not_ ), a soft smile lifted the corners of Baekhyun's lips as he watched the scene play out in front of him, and he could tell that the simple exchange had the same effect on everyone else in the auditorium as it did on him. The same smile that was on his own face was reflected in those of the other students, even on Kyungsoo.

Diverting his attention back to the two professors, Baekhyun watched as the two of them broke from their bro-hug, and his eyes couldn't help but trail his eyes down the entire stature of his, well... _eye candy._

Because _nope, Byun Baekhyun was_ not _crushing on Park Chanyeol._

... But honestly, Baekhyun knew that it was futile arguing against what was literally carved in stone. As much as he loathe to admit, the way his heart fluttered and cheeks burnt at the mere sight and, god forbid, _mention_ of the professor, it was definitely not the effect a simple _eye candy_ would have.

And Baekhyun was never one to hide away from his feelings; he took them for what it is.

... But he literally saw this man _one day ago_ , how the hell did he manage to develop a _crush_ on him already?

Feeling his cheeks burn at the label that his mind had put on Chanyeol, _a freaking Professor at the school he was TA-ing at, for goodness' sake_ , Baekhyun took in the way the deep olive green jacket hung on his shoulders, remaining unzipped and showing off the plain white tee under it. His mile-long legs were wrapped in plain black skinny jeans, and the outfit was pulled together with a pair of plain black high cut sneakers.

Baekhyun couldn't help but take a double-take internally, comparing the Chanyeol he met the day before the and current Chanyeol, because _wow,_ did his dress style take a complete 180.

... But he still looked _so good._

Gritting his teeth in annoyance at the heat that he could feel racing up his neck and blossoming on his cheeks yet _again_ , Baekhyun dug his face in his knees once more and let out a muffled scream, throwing all grace and care for the other persons present around him out of the window.

... _And_ why _, of all hair styles, did he_ have _to have his hair pushed up and away from his forehead???_

With his head filled with nothing but thoughts centring around the straight-out-of-a-photoshoot man himself, along with a few exasperated self-reprimands, Baekhyun had failed to notice the direction in which the conversation between the two men were heading towards, and it wasn't until Kyungsoo's sudden gasp and quiet "Ah!" did Baekhyun shake out of his little Park Chanyeol Bubble™.

Confused, Baekhyun could only stare with furrowed brows at how Kyungsoo swiftly turned around and dug around the pile of haphazardly placed bags for his own; the two TAs were seated towards the back, very close to where the students had dumped their bags (hence why Kyungsoo hadn't had to move much).

Wondering why Kyungsoo was suddenly looking for something, Baekhyun had parted his lips open in hopes of asking, but a certain, deep timbre had cut him off before he could even begin.

"Ah, Kyungsoo," Chanyeol began, and _that_ definitely caught Baekhyun's attention.

Slowly, almost disbelievingly so, Baekhyun turned his head towards the source of the voice, almost not wanting to believe that Park Chanyeol was standing in front of him.

But alas, as he caught sight of the black sneakers and black jeans creeping into the edges of his vision, Baekhyun could only inwardly groan. _Luck was definitely not on his side, today._

Tilting his chin up ( _honestly, don't even ask where he got the courage from, because trust me, even Baekhyun himself doesn't know_ ), eyes slowly but steadily making their upwards trek up the six-foot stature of the professor, Baekhyun finally rested his gaze on Chanyeol's wide eyes.

Which were, thankfully, not focused on him but rather on Kyungsoo instead.

... At least the teacher wouldn't be greeted with a completely speechless, burning red Baekhyun _yet again_.

It saves some of the dignity Baekhyun ~~thinks~~ _knows_ that he has left.

"I'm sorry, but please do give me a moment," Kyungsoo's mellow voice broke through Baekhyun's Park Chanyeol Reverie, and it had him turning his head to face his fellow TA once more.

Kyungsoo had apparently found his bag, and had pulled out his sleek black folder and was rifling through the pages upon pages of various music sheets, notes, and lecture slides that, Baekhyun noticed, were actually pretty neatly arranged.

With his eyebrows raising slightly and his lips pursing into an impressed little pout (with the corners dipping downwards and lower lip jutting out), Baekhyun continued observing Kyungsoo searching through, what he could safely presume, were the entire Semester's worth of TA notes.

"It's no worry," Chanyeol lightly chuckled, and Baekhyun noticed that the voice sounded much more closer than before, "take your time!"

Sneakily (at least, to Baekhyun, that is), Baekhyun chanced a glance to where Chanyeol was initially standing, only to be welcomed with the professor's face _much_ more closer than it was supposed to be.

Because _the_ Park Chanyeol was, in fact, crouching, in front of the two TAs, barely two feet away from them.

... And _God_ , was he even more handsome up close.

What Baekhyun had deemed modern-day Adonis just a day ago was definitely still present, however today, they were definitely veiled by traces of a certain boyish charm.

... And _damn_ , did that do things to Baekhyun's palpitating heart.

It was certainly the clothes, Baekhyun noted, because the Chanyeol from yesterday was a head-to-toe model cross man-who-knew-his-shit-and-had-everything, what with the formal attire and folded sleeves. _This_ Chanyeol, on the other hand, was much more... _relaxed_ , in the sense where he seemed much more younger and, for the lack of a better, much fitting word, _boyish_.

Or basically, Chanyeol literally went from Daddy to Perfect Boyfriend.

And the ease in which the man had managed to pull both ends of the spectrum off so effortlessly well _definitely_ bumped the man a few more notches up Baekhyun's little Heart Ladder.

... Not that there was anyone above him to begin with, but whatever.

Baekhyun could only continue observing the man, and although his features _really_ did not change at all from yesterday (and neither from Baekhyun's memories of the man), Baekhyun really couldn't help himself in taking in the, honestly, _feast_ that a certain Park Chanyeol was presenting.

... However, being too caught up in someone's pure perfection definitely has its consequences, because what happens when you stare at someone for too long?

Right, they start to _notice_ you staring.

And what happens when they realise that you've been staring?

 _Right_ , they stare _back_.

Which was why it really shouldn't have come as a surprise to Baekhyun when Chanyeol had shifted his gaze from Kyungsoo to Baekhyun himself.

However, the startle that shook through his body definitely spoke the opposite, and as soon as Baekhyun realised that his reaction was the cause for the light chuckle that escaped the lips of Chanyeol, he couldn't have helped the flushing of his cheeks out of sheer embarrassment.

Burrowing his face in his knees once more, Baekhyun wrapped his arms a little tighter around his knees as he pulled his legs a little closer towards his torso, in dire hopes of curling into himself tight enough to disappear because _damn, this is embarrassing_.

Thankfully, Baekhyun didn't have to wait long for his saving grace, because Kyungsoo eventually found what he was looking for, quickly pulling out the stack of paper and handing them to Chanyeol with a quiet "Here you go, Professor Park."

Chanyeol had swiftly turned his focus back to Kyungsoo, eyes glancing down at the substantially thick stack of paper that had his own little scribbles in various shades of reds, blues, and greens littered about in his own handwriting.

With a relieved, thankful smile stretching across his lips, Chanyeol voiced his gratitude before proceeding to take the papers out of his TA's hands. Kyungsoo had simply replied with an "It's no problem at all, Professor," and flashed his own small smile before nodding his head slightly.

Not being able to hold himself back, Chanyeol shifted the papers to one hand and then proceeded to ruffle Kyungsoo's long locks with his free hand, only managing to elicit a frown as well as a well-concealed glare from the TA.

Chanyeol knew that Kyungsoo didn't particularly like having his hair ruffled (after having done that to him twice yesterday, once when the TA had entered the lecture hall just barely late and was already apologising so profusely, and once more as he was packing to leave).

But Chanyeol really couldn't help himself, not when the glare he received was particularly adorable.

Laughing to himself, Chanyeol finally pulled his hand away from Kyungsoo's (now) mess of subdued red locks, apologising (although both of them knew that he wasn't _that_ sorry, but it was all in good fun) before expressing his thanks once more.

"It's really no problem at all, Professor Park," Kyungsoo replied, a small smile spreading across his lips in response to the bright grin that stretched across the face of the professor, initial frown melting away. "It's partially my fault too, for not remembering to hand them back to you, so let's both not forget the next time!"

Chanyeol could only respond with a breathy laugh, which was contagious enough to let a few chuckles slip from Kyungsoo himself, before he gave a quick nod in agreement.

"Alright, I better get going now," Chanyeol said a beat after silence enveloped the trio, taking note of the time on the Rolex wrapped around his wrist, noticing that he indeed was running late already.

This was a little unfortunate, because, as Chanyeol turned his gaze to meet with that of the other TA (which was futile, because the man _still_ had his face buried in his knees), he realised that he had yet to formally meet him.

Thinking that their introduction would have to wait for another time, Chanyeol only chuckled at the adorable sight before proceeding to ruffle the soft mop of brown that greeted him, not unlike the manner in which he ruffled Kyungsoo's own hair.

"You're cute, you know that?" Chanyeol had murmured, almost unconsciously so, before he retracted his hand and stood back up on his feet.

... And honestly, the ease in which Park Chanyeol had literally just.. _up and walked away_ without (probably) realising what he just said and how that impacted the TAs was downright crUEL.

Kyungsoo was _definitely_ in a state of shock, thick brows raised so high up his forehead they nearly brushed his hairline, and wide eyes replicating the shape of his rounded mouth as he could only stare in disbelief at Baekhyun, clearly needing time to process what exactly had just transpired between the two of them.

... Because _wow_ , do Professors really call TAs cute in the first times of meeting them?

Directing his focus back to Baekhyun, Kyungsoo noticed how he was still curled up in the little ball, with his face buried in his knees and arms wrapped tight around his legs, pulling them as close to his torso as possible.

However, the one thing that significantly stood out (at least, the _most_ , because Baekhyun's posture stood out _enough_ ), were the blazing red ears that stuck out from the head of brown hair.

"...That was a first," Kyungsoo murmured, warily glancing at the other TA, who, unsurprisingly (at least, to _us_ ), had his head still buried in his knees.

Kyungsoo was only responded with a high-pitched squeak, which only resulted in a deeper furrow of his own brows as he scooted closer towards Baekhyun, curiosity (and maybe a hint of worry) fuelling his movements. As soon as Kyungsoo was close enough, he bent a little closer to the little ball of burning red in hopes of catching a glance of his face.

"Hey, Baekhyun," placing a comforting hand on the man's shoulder, Kyungsoo gently expressed his worry. "You doing okay?"

A quick, although visibly restrained nod of the head was what followed Kyungsoo's question, as well as a slight tightening of the arms around the bent knees.

Getting more and more confused by the minute, and noticing the way in which the red dying Baekhyun's ears was rapidly growing brighter and brighter by the second, Kyungsoo couldn't help the next sentence from slipping past his lips.

"You're blushing like a teenage school girl in love with her professor or something," and although Kyungsoo _really_ didn't put in any thought whatsoever into his sentence (it honestly just slipped), this was the _only_ one that elicited a legitimate response from Baekhyun.

Immediately whipping his head up to face the other TA, Baekhyun scoffed out an "I'm _not_ a teenage school girl!" before facing the front once again, chin hooking over the makeshift pillow of his arms and huffing.

... But in doing so, Baekhyun clearly didn't factor in the state of his face in that moment, and the fact that it was now out in broad daylight for all to see, because the bright red was _definitely_ still very much present.

A fact that Kyungsoo _definitely_ noticed.

"... Holy _shit_ are you red," the words slipped right out of Kyungsoo's lips, eyes staring back in shock at the _literal_ red hue staining the once slightly tanned skin of Baekhyun's face.

With his own eyes mirroring that of the other TA's, Baekhyun's hands quickly flew up to his cheeks, before hissing slightly at the amount of heat he could feel radiating off of his skin.

_Damn, still?_

Groaning, both at the realisation that his _stupid, idiotic, annoying crush_ had resulted in yet another moment of pure embarrassment, as well as the fact that Kyungsoo's _seen_ it already (hence, there is no point in trying to hide it anymore), Baekhyun threw his head back and proceeded to stretch his legs out, entire frame completely going lax in what you would identify as pure, unadulterated _defeat_.

"... You have a crush on Professor Park or something?" the seemingly innocent (and mildly amusing) question echoed between the two TAs, and even though Kyungsoo was expecting nothing short of a vehement (yet _convincing_ ), resounding denial, the reaction that Baekhyun gave took him by surprise.

... Because the only thing that Baekhyun did in response was groan _even more_ , and it was more drawn out too, on top of the minute flailing of his legs as he turned his face away from Kyungsoo.

Reaaaaaaaally unlike a toddler throwing a tantrum, Christ.

And that was when _everything_ clicked for Kyungsoo, and he really couldn't help but state the obvious.

"You have a crush on Professor Park Chanyeol."

...which drew an immediate response from the _other_ , almost-dying TA.

"God, you don't have to _shout_ it out!" Baekhyun hissed, head tilted to face Kyungsoo yet body still retaining its earlier position.

Taking note of exactly how the situation had caused Baekhyun to lose his cool _completely_ , and just how flustered he was, Kyungsoo really couldn't help but find the image amusing.

Brown hair messed up and sticking up all over, eyebrows deeply set and furrowed, and lips pulled up into an embarrassedly annoyed grimace, Kyungsoo immediately burst out in a fit of chuckles.

"Hey!" Baekhyun whisper-yelled, "Stop laughing at me!" he continued, flailing his legs this way and that in hopes of reaching Kyungsoo, desperately wanting him to stop before he attracts any more attention.

Noticing just how hard Baekhyun was trying to get him to stop, Kyungsoo quickly tried to stifle his laughter, even bringing his palm up to veil his lips, hoping to stopper anymore from slipping.

"Alright, alright," Kyungsoo laughed, "I'll stop."

Watching as how Kyungsoo took in deep breaths to calm himself down, Baekhyun slowly but steadily brought his feet back down, and his legs closer to himself. However, he couldn't help the slight resentment still running through his veins at how Kyungsoo found his state of misery _amusing_ (like, honestly, how _r00d_?), and just huffed and faced away from the other TA.

And even though his posture pretty much screamed "go away, I hate you", the message probably went over Kyungsoo's head, because before Baekhyun knew it, the other TA was already getting up in his face.

And God, was the amusement lacing every single muscle on the cherubic face _annoying._

Steering his face away from Kyungsoo (and his prying eyes), Baekhyun turned away to face the rest of the class, noticing that they were still in the midst of the introduction session that was so rudely interrupted by a certain Park Ch—

"Oh my God, you're getting redder, are you thinking about him again?"

Kyungsoo's _annoying_ voice broke through Baekhyun's thoughts (fortunately, because Baekhyun does NOT want to subject himself to more embarrassment, much less in front of _Kyungsoo_ , of _all_ people), and had him immediately retaliating with a strong, yet shaky (because who was Baekhyun kidding, he _was_ mere seconds from thinking about the man), "NO!"

Which only resulted in Kyungsoo responding with a "Pfft, stop lying to yourself, Baekhyun."

Rolling his eyes at the _annoying_ response, and also internally crying at the fact that he would probably never win with Kyungsoo, Baekhyun only let out a few inaudible mumbles before curling in on himself once more, wanting to hide away from Kyungsoo.

Scoffing, Kyungsoo placed a hand on Baekhyun's shoulder before gently guiding him to face himself.

"Relax, would you," Kyungsoo assured (although it was clear that Baekhyun didn't bite that bone, if the way in which he rolled his eyes was any indication), "I'm not judging you or anything, I'm not like that."

It was the way in which Kyungsoo had murmured the last sentence that undid him; it sounded genuinely sincere, with no traces of mockery or disgust lacing his tone, and Baekhyun felt a little bit more safer.

Slowly peeking up from under his bangs, Baekhyun looked up to face Kyungsoo once more, and everything that was found in his tone was reflected on his face and in his eyes, and Baekhyun quickly let out a sigh of relief.

“But that doesn’t mean that I don’t wanna know a few things though,” Kyungsoo sneakily slipped, which immediately had Baekhyun groaning because _of course_ Kyungsoo would want to know.

Sighing in resignation (because Baekhyun had long ago (meaning, like, five minutes) accepted that he would never win with Kyungsoo), Baekhyun could only surrender and subject himself to the round of Twenty Questions.

 

* * *

 

“So, you’ve met him like a day ago and interacted with him for like 2 minutes and you’re already practically in love with him?”

The glare that Kyungsoo received for his basic, yet shockingly concise summary of his rendition of Baekhyun’s situation was definitely called for, if you asked Baekhyun himself.

... because Kyungsoo’s phrasing made him look like, well, a _teenage high school girl in love with her professor._

Which he was _sooooo_ not.

And Baekhyun would _fight_ anyone who says otherwise.

Shoving Kyungsoo lightly in the shoulder, and internally smirking when the man had in fact stumbled a little from his cross-legged position, Baekhyun scoffed and retaliated against the comment.

“I am not _in love_ with him,” Baekhyun started, and the single raised eyebrow and hooded eyes that graced Kyungsoo’s features spoke for themselves, and only served to fuel Baekhyun’s tirade of denial _defence._ “I just, well, have a _suuuuuuuper_ tiny crush on him, that’s all,” he ended lamely, face slowly losing its hard set glare and softening to its neutral, albeit unsure state.

Kyungsoo only stared at the other TA, noticing the slightly somber mood slowly but steadily enveloping the two of them, and the little pout dancing over Baekhyun’s lips acted as a warning sign enough.

Parting his mouth in hopes of saying something that’ll help dispel the sudden almost-dour atmosphere, Kyungsoo was unfortunately (or not, because we all know sometimes he lets things slip, things that _really_ shouldn’t have been let slip) cut off by the man himself.

“But like, what’s the point, you know?” Baekhyun began, and Kyungsoo couldn’t help but feel somewhat startled and confused at the sudden, well, self-doubt that Baekhyun was expressing. “He’s clearly out of my league, with him being whole damn daddy and here I am looking like some underdeveloped foetus.”

The last sentence took Kyungsoo by surprise, Baekhyun’s little angry rant swerving into a much different lane than what he had thought it would have ended in, and Kyungsoo couldn’t help the laugh from bubbling out and past his lips.

Resting a comforting, and friendly hand on Baekhyun’s shoulder, Kyungsoo simply responded with, “well, if you’re into _that_ kinda relationship, then by all means go ahead.”

...which of course resulted in a fuming Baekhyun retaliating with nothing else but “I am _not_ a _baby_!”

A slight pause.

“And I do _not_ have a _daddy kink_!”

Kyungsoo could only rub soothing circles over Baekhyun’s shoulder and back, softly murmuring a “Whatever you say, Baekhyun, whatever you say.”

... Which of course, Baekhyun heard, so the resultant _stronger_ shove shouldn’t have come as much of  a surprise to Kyungsoo as it did, _not at all_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! :) This chapter's sort of like an introduction of all the characters, so that's why there's not much "Conspiring Idiots" going on, but don't fret because you'll see them in action soon enough!
> 
> This is my first ever EXO fanfiction, too! I’ve also already written all the chapters, so I’ll be updating this consistently (weekly)! 
> 
> I do appreciate constructive criticism, so do leave a comment down below if you think there are ways in which I can improve! But if you wanna leave a comment just for fun, I appreciate that too!
> 
> Anyway, thanks, and have a good day! :D <3


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Love's in the air, and Sehun's finally got a whiff... with the help of Kyungsoo, of course.

**_A few weeks in…_ **

 

"Alright, let's take five!" Professor Kim's voice rang about the auditorium, "And do not even think about practicing during these five minutes, got it? Let your chords rest before we carry on!"

The students slowly but steadily began to trickle about, dispersing from the neat arc which they had arranged themselves in. Some of them were headed towards their bags, some to the bathrooms, and some were still pouring over their notes, eyebrows furrowed together and lips mouthing along to something that suspiciously looked like—

“Hey!” Professor Kim’s sharp shout rang about the walls of the auditorium, attracting all eyes to him. And if the professor had hopes of startling the _wits_ out of the student, they definitely got fulfilled, because the (poor) kid that the tiny professor was currently stomping towards to had gotten startled so bad that his hands had slipped, the lecture notes that were previously in his grasp now littering the entire area around his feet.

Professor Kim apparently paid that no heed, continuing to march his way over to the seemingly terrified student, rolled up papers in his right hand as he proceeded to lightly but sternly hit the top of the student’s head with it. “I told you to let your chords rest, didn’t I, Mr. Kim Jongin?”

Cowering slightly form the hit, and more so, the _professor_ himself, a barrage of apologies and reassurances of “I’ll rest, Professor Kim, I’ll rest”s were the only things that were let loose from Jongin’s lips as the student continued to pick up his notes with one hand whilst the other was raised above his head, bracing for more impact.

The professor could only sigh as he continued to watch his student futilely pick the scattered notes about, all marked with traces of blue, reds, and blacks; ink circling the printed words accompanied by little notes by the side, looking almost like as if they were dancing across the pages. Jongdae also noticed the multitude of different coloured tabs stuck on the edges of the papers, along with the different coloured highlights, and it was with this _reminder_ that Kim Jongin was _such_ an admirably hardworking student did Jongdae feel his heart grow a little more softer and larger for the kid.

Sighing once more, Jongdae squatted down to help Jongin in picking up the scattered papers (of which, Jongdae knew, _he_ himself was the cause of). Quickly gathering the papers closest to himself, Jongdae proceeded to give them back to their rightful owner, but not without a meaningful glance at the stack of notes and, with his free hand, a light tap on his own throat.

“You’re very hardworking, Jongin,” Jongdae began, acknowledging his student’s efforts, “but too much effort can be bad sometimes. Learn how and when to rest, okay?” the professor murmured, lightly tapping Jongin’s head with his own notes once more,  his fondness and genuine care for his student making themselves apparent through the gesture.

“Yes, Professor Kim,” Jongin replied, a small smile lifting the corners of his lips up in thanks for his professor’s concern, to which Jongdae simply chuckled and proceeded to get back up on his feet again.

It was honestly endearing how, well, _soft_ , Professor Kim gets with his students. Of course, like all lecturers of Hanyang University, Professor Kim was extremely firm and stringent when the situation calls for it, and even more so now that the first round of assessments were fast approaching. No tardiness was accepted, and Professor Kim’s expectations of his students always giving their 100% during class was expected as well.

However, with how high-strung the professors had gotten, and how stressed they seemed to be, it should not have come as a surprise when the students themselves started feeling the pressure. Sure, the standard stress from “oh my god it’s _exam season_ ” was there, but the fact that the stress which the teachers carried did not end _there_ had definitely gotten some of the students into stress overdrive.

… because the stress which the professors carried was not _only_ due to it being the standard college exam period stress, but also “this is Hanyang University, top University in South Korea, and I, a well-established artist who has made multiple titles and names and has left a significant mark on my own industry, am currently being heavily scrutinised for my teaching ability and whether my talent was ever worth anything if I can’t even teach it to my students.”

… which was why _everyone else_ besides the professors were _just_ as stressed.

The first round of assessments were scheduled for the fifth and sixth week of the semester, and it was already the fourth week. Although it was still a whole week away (a whopping 7 whole damn days away), the immense, unaddressed pressure that has seemingly thickened the air within the campus the past few days has definitely spurred everyone into studying like as though the exams were the next day instead.

This, of course, didn’t go unnoticed by the professors, what with having experienced this same situation (students having a near mental breakdown multiple times in one day) multiple times in their entire teaching careers. Hence, the small moments of care in which the professors ensure that their students are not working themselves to the bone had definitely grown in number, resulting in the sight of professors softly talking to and encouraging their students personally becoming much more of a norm than it was previously.

And honestly, Baekhyun found it endearing.

Softly shaking his head, Baekhyun couldn’t help the fond smile blossoming on his lips as he approached Jongin with a light skip in his steps, noticing how Jongin had his notes back in a pile in his hands again, eyes pouring over the text but this time, lips tightly sealed shut.

Professor Kim had noticed him skipping over though, and Baekhyun immediately placated the man with an adorable grin and a nod of his head, indicating that he got the message.

Professor Kim did see Baekhyun’s response, and the TA noticed how the hard, stern glint in the professor’s eyes softened almost immediately as soon as Baekhyun had reassured him. The professor also simply nodded and had proceeded to turn around, but not without directing his index and middle fingers from his own eyes to Baekhyun’s general direction, failing to come off as stringent, unfortunately.

Jongdae’s fondness hadn’t only stopped at his students, because _both_ Baekhyun and Kyungsoo felt extremely loved and well taken care of by the man. They have all also gotten extremely close over the past couple of weeks, and Baekhyun had been more than surprised at how caring and protective Jongdae was of both his students and his TAs.

Jongdae was an amazing person, and Baekhyun couldn’t help the fond smile bloom across his lips as he was reminded of how loving Professor Kim really was.

But quickly shaking his head as he finally reached the student, Baekhyun gave slight tap on his shoulder, m flashing a cute ( _his own words_ ), innocent grin up at Jongin when the student finally tore his eyes away from his notes. Upon seeing that it was none other than the TA, and taking notice of the faint traces of amusement swimming about in the TA’s eyes, Jongin’s whole face crumpled into an almost frown as he whined out an “I _know_ , _I know_.”

Chuckling at Jongin’s futile attempts at trying to get Baekhyun from saying _whatever_ it was that he wanted to say (which would probably be something along the lines of repeating exactly what Jongdae had said _or_ repeating what the professor had said, but adding a little bit of the Baekhyun-flair to it, as per Jongin’s and Sehun’s words), Baekhyun decided to let this one slip.

Calming down, Baekhyun peeked over Jongin’s arm to take a look at which part had the student’s entire focus earlier on, thinking that maybe once the five minute break was up, he could help Jongin a little.

Upon noticing what the TA was trying to do, Jongin quickly tilted the notes a little to make it easier for Baekhyun to see, pointing out the line and note that he was struggling with earlier. “It’s this one, hyung, I can’t seem to reach it and this is supposed to be the highlight of the entire rendition.”

Humming lighting as he scrutinised the notes and the lines, Baekhyun began humming along to the line himself, getting a light grip on the notes and melody. It was a pretty standard note for the TA himself, but of course, Baekhyun had experience and a lot of vocal training, which could not be said about the student next to him. Specialising in the art of dance, Jongin’s focus had not been his vocals, although they were still incredibly impressive as well.

“Alright, so for this no—”

“Okay, five minutes is up!” Professor Kim’s voice rang about the auditorium, abruptly cutting Baekhyun off, “Gather back here and we’ll go through it once more before we wrap it up for today!”

Gently nudging Jongin in the ribs, Baekhyun coaxed Jongin to get back to the front of the stage where Jongdae was seated. The student only smiled apologetically at him before scrambling to where the other students were gathered, but not without receiving Baekhyun’s tiny smile and shake of his head, a reassurance that it was alright and, if Jongin still wanted to, Baekhyun was more than willing to help him out once class was over.

Jongin flashed a grateful grin once more before nodding, quickly turning back around to face the professor as soon as Professor Kim started talking.

Smiling lightly, Baekhyun slowly turned around to head back to the bags area, where Kyungsoo was kneeling on the ground organising the assessment summary notes which were to be handed out to the students at the end of class.

“Hey,” Baekhyun greeted, receiving a hum of acknowledgement in response, making a grab for the stapler and beginning to staple the arranged stacks together. “Exam season’s stressful, damn.”

Kyungsoo only snorted, murmuring a low “tell me about it” before he went back to arranging papers. The pile was almost completed, seeing as it was only a couple of copies thick, which was good news because the students would literally cause a stampede to get these notes, seeing as how whatever the TAs were holding was as close to a “cheat sheet” that they were going to get for their assessment.

“But how are your other students, by the way? Are they as stressed as Professor Kim’s are?” Kyungsoo asked, breaking the comfortable silence as he was collating the last copy of notes before handing them over to Baekhyun, who swiftly stapled them together and placed the notes on the stack with the others.

“Well, I’d actually say that they’re even _more_ stressed, considering how in Professor Zhang’s class they need to put together a half-minute long song of their own creation, and on top of that, sing along to it,” Baekhyun paused, sighing, remembering how stressed some of the students had been when Professor Zhang had broken down the assessment to its different components. “They’ll need to produce a song, write the lyrics, and sing to it. And if they can’t sing or think that they’re not good enough to be singing, they need to find someone to sing it for them.”

Baekhyun turned to face Kyungsoo, handing the neatly arranged stack of notes back to the other TA.

“... Wow, that sounds tough,” Kyungsoo replied, eyes wide in subtle disbelief, “how are the kids coping with it?”

Baekhyun could only sigh once more, vivid memories of the students scrambling to the professor to get more information out, panic and fear having been the only thing driving them the past few days.

“... they’ve definitely been better,” Baekhyun answered, “and everyone’s working extremely hard, especially Sehun.” At that, both TAs turned around to face the group of students, all practicing their assessment rendition with Professor Kim at the front of the stage, searching for the aforementioned student.

They spotted Oh Sehun at the far end, a little ways away from the main gaggle of students, along with Jongin.

“Those two, I swear to God,” Kyungsoo murmured lowly, a faint trace of annoyance masking over the concern lining his voice, “they’ll work themselves to the bone at this rate.”

Kyungsoo’s words managed to pull out a deep laugh from Baekhyun, because it was honestly the truth. Sehun and Jongin were the most hardworking students in the classes they shared with the TAs, and they never stopped practicing or trying to improve. Whilst it was admirable, it was also downright worrisome.

From Baekhyun’s own frequent interactions with Sehun in Professor Zhang’s class, Baekhyun knew that the student was extremely hardworking; constantly staying back after classes to talk to the Professor, or, if Professor Zhang was busy, he would then turn to Baekhyun for help.

Sometimes their, namely between Sehun and Baekhyun, after-class sessions go up to two hours long, and because of that, Sehun had treated the TA to lunch more often than not, until it became almost like a norm.

Free lunch in exchange for a one-on-one session with an unproblematic student? Why would Baekhyun, or anyone, for that matter, disagree?

Of course, with those free lunches and the amount of time the two spent working with each other, the both of them had managed to forge a rather peculiar friendship, and had shared bits of information with one another.

Baekhyun got to know that Sehun was part of a dance group along with Jongin, and that the two of them had been friends from way back in elementary school, and were known for being rascals and pranksters.

… something which Sehun, for one reason or another, was somewhat _proud_ of, but Baekhyun isn’t one to judge. (“I mean, you wouldn’t understand, you were the goody-two-shoes princess, weren’t you, hyung?” to which Baekhyun responded by pelting a spoonful of mashed potatoes at Sehun’s hair, but unfortunately, had missed.)

But ultimately, Sehun and Jongin were extremely good kids (nevermind the fact that they were only like, 5 years younger), and were extremely hardworking students. And sometimes, _too_ hardworking.

“I _know_ , and we’re barely halfway into this semester.” Baekhyun huffed, arms folding over his chest as he made eye contact with Jongin, tapping his throat lightly (not unlike Professor Kim a while ago) to indicate that _yes Jongin, whilst I wouldn’t mind staying up till sundown to help you out, I can’t do that if you’re not even alive_.

Receiving a two-finger salute matched with a cheeky grin in response, Baekhyun only rolled his eyes.

“... Anyway, enough about me,” Baekhyun tilted his body slightly, facing Kyungsoo, “how about you? How’ve _your_ kids been?”

… To which Kyungsoo only side-eyed him, quirking his eyebrows as his own arms mimicked Baekhyun’s, folding across his chest. His aura, however, was devoid of anything demure or insecure, but was much rather boasting in _oh? Really?_

… And Baekhyun _knew_ _exactly_ what was going to slip out of Kyungsoo’s lips immediately.

“You wanna know about my kids,” Kyungsoo began, lips curling up slightly at the side, an amused smirk lining the corners, “Or do you wanna know about _your daddy_?”

…

…

…

Honestly, can Baekhyun like, chill a little with his hits, God damn.

Because _fuck_ , can this self-declared underdeveloped fetus cross sugar baby _hit_.

… the bump on Kyungsoo’s head is gonna last for _days_.

 

* * *

 

“Hyung!”

Whipping his head around, Baekhyun turned to look for the source of the voice, knowing that it could only be one person.

Watching the tall student clamber down from his seat in the lecture hall, Baekhyun stopped packing his bag, knowing that Sehun needed something urgently that may require his laptop, that was still perched on the desk.

“I need help with putting everything together,” Sehun breathed, almost panting because of how quick he scrambled down the stairs, bag hung precariously over his shoulder, and laptop held loosely in the crook between his elbow and forearm.

Eyes widened in slight shock, because the assessment due date was not until the end of the sixth week of school, Baekhyun couldn’t help but let his jaw hang open as he stared at Sehun. Sure, yes, it was the start of the fifth week, but everyone else in the class was still recording, or, worse off, _trying_ to find someone to handle the vocals of the song. Yet, here Oh Sehun was, seemingly already having everything recorded and ready to be put together.

“... Woah, that’s fast!” Baekhyun exclaimed, unable to hide how impressed he was of Sehun, which honestly, shouldn’t have been all that surprising, considering how hard Sehun had been working. “Where do you want to do it?”

At that, Sehun only smiled sheepishly as he murmured a small “Here?”, and the sheer predictability of the student managed to pull out a small laugh from the TA, who only smiled and nodded as he pulled his own laptop closer to him. Professor Zhang had ended the lecture a whole half-hour earlier, which meant that Baekhyun and Sehun would practically have the whole hall to themselves for that time.

However, the two of them, as always, didn’t keep track of how long they were staying in the hall for.

… And it wasn’t long before in came waltzing none other than Professor Park and Kyungsoo.

Sehun was the first one between the two to catch them walking in, and, quickly glancing up to the lecture hall clock, shot up from his bent position when he noticed that it was only five minutes till Professor Park’s own class.

This, of course, startled Baekhyun from his own position of leaning against Sehun, having had shifted some of his weight off onto the student. Now, having had lost some his support, Baekhyun was about to slip and fall off of his seat entirely, brandishing a whole wave of embarrassment because not only will he fall off of the seat, he’s going to be doing that in front of _Park Chanyeol_.

Which was why, as soon as Sehun had gripped onto him to prevent him from literally falling to his own social and romantic (although everyone but the tiny _tall_ people in the room didn’t know that) death, Baekhyun tilted his head up and sent a small, silent _thanks_ to God.

“Woah, are you guys okay?” the deep, gritty voice of none other than Park Chanyeol echoed about the empty lecture hall, and _god_ , did that voice do things to Baekhyun.

Whilst half-falling, half-flailing earlier on, Baekhyun did manage to catch a glimpse of what the professor had looked like on that day, and just—

_How can a white shirt tucked into belted skinny jeans look this fucking good?!_

“Uh,” came Sehun’s voice, which resulted in Baekhyun being reminded that _yes, Park Chanyeol had asked a question earlier on_ and _wow he asked a question directed at ME_.

Granted that it wasn’t Baekhyun personally, but I mean, he’ll take what he can get.

“Yeah, we’re fine,” Sehun replied, reaching out for his laptop in hopes of packing it back into his bag. “Sorry about that, we’ll take our leave now.”

“Ah—” Professor Park started, immediately interrupting Sehun from packing up his laptop (Baekhyun, on the other hand, went frozen as soon as the professor had asked the question, so nevermind him). “My students won’t come in until fifteen minutes later, so you can carry on for a little more here.”

Sehun’s brows rose a little higher up his forehead, slightly questioning, and his expression in turn made the professor laugh. “I told them to come in fifteen minutes later today, because I’ve got a few stuff I need to set up,” The professor paused, gesturing to the sleek, black cases that were surrounding both the professor’s and Kyungsoo’s feet. “So it’s fine, you guys carry on ahead!”

“Ah,” Sehun murmured, a little dumbly, Baekhyun would have added _if he still wasn’t blanking out because of_ one _damn man_.

“Hyung?” Sehun whispered, eyeing Baekhyun, the TA seemingly almost not breathing as his gaze fixed back on his fiddling fingers perched on his lap. “Yo, Baekhyun,” Sehun called, bringing up his fingers and snapping them in front of the TA, and that seemed to do the trick.

Jumping not unlike as though he had his wits scared out of his skin, Baekhyun turned to glare at the student, eyebrows sert furrowed over futilely angry-glaring eyes, lips pursed into a snarl as he started raining open-palmed hits on the student’s closest limb.

“Stop—” a whack on the bicep, “scaring—” a backhand hit on the forearm, “me—”, a hit on the tricep, “you—” another slap on the bicep, “doofus!” a barrage of hits on Sehun’s entire arm.

However, with how tiny the TA was, ~~and with his little to none muscles,~~ the hits were comparable to that of a toddler, but of course Sehun did not disclose that fact (because he did _not_ want to test out Baekhyun’s strength; so far, he had only dealt with the TA’s slaps and hits, never his punches or kicks (unlike Kyungsoo, the TA’s bump definitely didn’t look like it came from the _other_ tiny midget), and he’d like to keep it that way). In fact, Sehun knew he could guilt-trip the TA by acting like as though he actually was in _genuine_ pain.

Which was exactly what he did.

“Ow!” Sehun whined, his _not_ assaulted arm going up to shield his targeted arm from Baekhyun’s hits. “It hurts, hyung!”

Baekhyun stopped almost immediately, the frown melting off of his face only to be replaced with eyebrows furrowed in shock and genuine concern, traces of worry swimming about in his eyes.

“... Are you okay, Sehun?” Baekhyun asked, voice low, lined with fondness but more so with worry.

Upon seeing how worried Baekhyun actually was, and how guiltily he was eyeing Sehun’s arm, Sehun immediately shook his head, reassuring the TA that he was indeed fine and that he shouldn’t have to worry.

After all, a man like him won’t be taken down by a toddler’s hits.

… Which Sehun had unconsciously voiced out, so the last resounding _punch_ on his _almost_ -abused arm shouldn’t have shocked Sehun as much as it did.

“How’s that for a toddler’s hit, huh?”

 

* * *

 

“Hey, uh,” Sehun began, eyebrows furrowing as he tried to swat away Baekhyun’s hands that were still vehemently slapping against his forearm.

Honestly, why was Baekhyun being so much of dick? All Sehun was going to do was to offer _their_ (meaning _both_ Sehun’s and Baekhyun’s) help to the Professor and Kyungsoo. It seemed like there was a lot of equipment that needed to be set up, and the least that Sehun and Baekhyun could do (considering the fact that the professor had allowed them to stay in the lecture hall during his lecture period) was to offer to help them out.

That’s what good samaritans did, anyway. And whilst Sehun might be an ass to ~~Baekhyun~~ _some people_ , his Mother didn’t raise him to be rotten.

Swinging his arm in hopes of getting Baekhyun to stop (which, _thankfully_ , he did), Sehun glanced back up to meet the eyes of the Professor, of whom he still didn’t know the name of, unfortunately.

“Professor Park,” the professor smiled, letting go of the equipment he had in his hands in order to pull Sehun’s free one for a handshake. “And you are?”

Startling lightly at the _firm_ grip that the Professor had of his hand, Sehun quickly shook his head and focused on getting out his name. “Ah, I’m Oh Sehun.”

Nodding lightly in acknowledgment, Professor Park then turned to Baekhyun, hand stretched out in hopes of shaking hands with him once more. “I’ve seen you around a lot, but I don’t think we’ve ever formally met, have we?”

At this, Baekhyun, who _just_ realised that _wow, wow, wOW he’s talking to ME he really is talking to JUST ME_ , only buried his chin deeper into his chest as his shoulders hunched up over his ears, nodding meekly as he felt the blood rush up his chest and coat the skin of his face.

“... you’re a shy little thing, aren’t you?” Professor Park laughed, noticing that Baekhyun still hadn’t once looked up from where his gaze was resting on his fiddling fingers. Outstretched hand retreating, the Professor instead bent down a little in hopes of meeting gazes with the unbearably shy TA.

The professor had bent low enough to finally get a glimpse of the long lashes and pouty lips, of which the bottom lip was currently being bitten and held back by a row of perfect front teeth.

However, noticing the sudden daunting presence directly in front of him, Baekhyun’s gaze quickly shot up from his lap to face the figure in front of him.

“There you are…”

… and, unknowingly, met gazes with _the_ Park Chanyeol.

Feeling his face burn even brighter, Baekhyun immediately averted his gaze back down to his lap, the sight of the ever so handsome Professor, much less a softly smiling Park Chanyeol, being too much for him to handle.

However, knowing that _this_ time, Baekhyun wouldn’t be able to just escape the situation without saying anything in response, Baekhyun quickly gathered all of his nonexistent courage (when you’re seated directly in front of your crush, who has called you _cute_ _two times before_ , and is now actually wanting to know your _name_ , you yourself wouldn’t be rolling your eyes at how much of a teenage high school student Baekhyun was behaving like), and murmured out his name.

“I—I’m Baekhyun,” he breathed out, albeit softly, “Byun Baekhyun.”

And that, surprisingly, had managed to pull out a laugh from the professor. “And I’m Chanyeol,” the Professor mimicked, a hint of amusement accompanying the syllables, “Park Chanyeol.”

At that, Baekhyun couldn’t help but let out a light laugh himself. It was only his name, but somehow, the warmth and friendliness of the Professor had managed to shine through, and now the initially crush-stricken TA couldn’t help but bring his head up to meet the eyes of the professor.

The reaction that he got, however, was very much different than the one that he was expecting, because the professor’s own laughs had quickly died down to nothing, his expression of pure jubilance morphing into something akin to awe.

Baekhyun was definitely confused, and a frown had unconsciously began to form on his face; eyebrows quirked and corners of his lips turning down slightly. His change of expression, though, had apparently been a trigger for the professor, for he had quickly shook his head (seemingly to get out of whatever trance that he was in), and quickly laughed it off.

The confusion that Baekhyun had felt did not dissipate immediately, but with how the atmosphere of the entire room had brightened up with the laugh, Baekhyun couldn’t help the smile pulling on the corners of his lips.

“Alright, I _finally_ have a name to put to your face,” Professor Park grinned, “you’re the TA of two of my closest friends, yet we’ve never really interacted.” The statement had managed to make Baekhyun laugh, although a little shyly, because the underlying implication that the Professor _may_ have wanted to talk to him even _before_ was definitely (or maybe Baekhyun’s just too lovesick and delusional, who knows) there.

“I guess today’s the day, then!” Baekhyun smiled, receiving a nod and, to Baekhyun’s own disbelief, a _tiny wink_ (was his mind playing tricks on him or did the professor just literally _WINK_ at _him_?!).

Before he could even process anything, Baekhyun felt the rush of blood creeping up his neck, knowing that his cheeks and ears were now _definitely_ stained a bright hue of red.

“Anyway, you guys carry on ahead,” Professor Park stated, once more reaching out for the equipment he had held in his hands a few minutes ago, “we can handle it.”

… and _that_ immediately sprung Sehun (who had actually stayed frozen as he watched the whole _scene_ between the professor and his _heavily blushing TA_ play out in front of him) into action.

“Ah, about that!” Sehun exclaimed, dragging all eyes onto himself once more, “both Baekhyun hyung and I can help you out with the setting up!” He briefed a glance over the expanse of black cases and the equipment littered about the floor, “it looks like there’s a lot.”

Professor Park glanced back down at the equipment, and, acknowledging that what Sehun had said was _true_ , nodded in affirmation. Although the professor had wanted to assure the student that it was fine, and that Kyungsoo and him had it under control, Sehun had beat him to it.

“So,” the student began, “let’s set them all up then!”

The student’s straightforwardness definitely surprised the professor, and had him quickly denying and assuring that the situation was all under control. “No, no, it’s fine, Kyungsoo and I can—”

“Professor Park, I insist,” Sehun adamantly responded, “take it as a form of thanks for letting us crash here!”

Knowing that he wouldn’t be able to win against Sehun, the Professor simply sighed before relenting, proceeding to pick up a few parts in hopes of showing the younger how to assemble them together. That plan, however, was quickly thrown out the window by none other than Kyungsoo.

“Ah,” the TA interrupted, “I can take him under my wing, Professor Park,” Glancing at Baekhyun, Kyungsoo ended off his statement with a friendly, almost _too_ innocent smile, and Sehun watched, _again_ , the scene play out before him. Almost like a drama.

… And that’s when everything clicked.

_Baekhyun hyung…_

_… you ain’t slick._

Quickly catching onto Kyungsoo’s drift, Sehun swiftly turned on the heels of his feet to face the professor, who was seemingly dumbstruck. “Yup, I work well with Kyungsoo hyung too!”

Realising that the only thing he could do was nod, Professor Park did just that, watching as the student quickly ran over to where his TA was standing.

After seeing the two of them interact and deducing that Sehun was part of Kyungsoo’s other classes, the professor then brought his gaze back to the _other_ TA in the room, realising that since Sehun and Kyungsoo had, apparently, unanimously decided to partner up (don’t worry, Chanyeol didn’t take it to heart), he’d have to work with Baekhyun.

… Who apparently had on a frown and was pointing the finger in… Kyungsoo’s direction?

But that didn’t last long, because as soon as he realised that he had the professor’s eyes on him, the frown immediately dissipated off of the TA’s face and the finger was quickly withdrawn, hands scrambling back on the desktop. Now, a sheepish grin had taken over Baekhyun’s features, his other hand going to the back of his nape, scratching the skin there.

Chanyeol huffed a laugh and simply waved it off, not thinking too much about it as he waved Baekhyun over, gesturing for him to slip off of his seat, perched at the desk, and to come to where the professor was at.

Climbing down from his seat, Baekhyun slowly walked over to where the professor was already crouched on the ground, picking up the different equipment parts and knobs.

Thankfully, his back was facing Baekhyun, so he wasn’t victim to the way Baekhyun’s face scrunched up in an ugly frown as he mouthed a large _Fuck. You._ to both Sehun and Kyungsoo, who were both, to Baekhyun’s annoyance, snickering and acting like lovesick idiots.

Baekhyun would deny that they were in fact _mimicking_ him, because he did _not_ act like some lovestruck blushing teenage high school innocent no-name chick, _no way_.

_No. Effing. Way._

…

…

…

His friends were such _assholes_.

 

* * *

 

“What were you guys working on earlier, if you don’t mind me asking?”

The professor’s sudden question definitely surprised Baekhyun, because even though the atmosphere had screamed friendliness and serenity as soon as all four of started to get to work, no one had really brought up any topic of conversation.

The question was, of course, directed to none other than the TA himself, seeing as how he was much more closer to the Professor then Sehun.

… which was something that, although he had been ~~fantasizing~~ _thinking_ (not like that was in any way better) about it, he never thought that it would actually _happen_.

Feeling the professor’s heavy but curious gaze on him, Baekhyun could feel little tendrils of heat creep up his neck again (I swear, sooner or later Baekhyun’s gonna experience some form of artery issues with how fickle his blood was being; can’t they just stay on his cheeks and neck if he was going to be blushing every time the professor spoke to him?).

Clearing his throat, Baekhyun quickly twisted the knob of the rod, ensuring that it was firmly locked before he focused his entire attention on the professor. “Ah, it’s for Professor Zhang’s class,” Baekhyun began, “the kids—”

“Hyung, if someone’s a kid here, it’s you,” Sehun interrupted, pulling out a laugh from both Professor Park and Kyungsoo, whilst Baekhyun only snarled and threw a piece of bubble wrap at the student (not effective, but Baekhyun had to express his displeasure somehow).

“Kyungsoo hyung, you too, you know.”

Cue Kyungsoo’s immediate poker face, and him bringing Sehun down for a headlock.

The professor, upon noticing the act, fell into a harder pit of laughter, clutching his stomach as he fell back on his butt, and this in turn made Baekhyun start laughing too.

Laughter was contagious, and laughter from your _crush_ , was even more so.

“Ow— hyung, okay, okay, stop!” Sehun rasped out, hands coming up to clutch against the one Kyungsoo had wrapped around his neck, “I can’t breathe!”

“What must you say?” Kyungsoo demanded, and although his tone was mostly permeated by pure dominance, faint traces of fondness could still be heard, and Baekhyun, having had a more _Kyungsoo-trained_ ear than the others, could identify the notes just fine.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! You’re not a kid, hyung, not at all!”

Finally, Kyungsoo released Sehun from his headlock, watching as Sehun (dramatically) began rubbing his neck, whining and complaining about how rough Kyungsoo had been.

“... Well, all I know is that kids need to be told by adults to say their pleases and thank yous,” the professor had began, when the ruckus had died down, immediately catching the amused glints of the TAs and the less-than-impressed one of the student. “And their ‘sorry’s as well.”

“... so if anyone’s a kid here, Sehun,” he smirked, a glint of amusement sparking up his round eyes, catching a glimpse of how not Kyungsoo and Baekhyun had started to hide their grins behind their hands, “it’s you.”

…

Cue Sehun tackling Professor Park.

 

 

 

“... Anyway, as I was saying,” Baekhyun cleared his throat once everyone was back to their own stations, “before I was so rudely interrupted—”

At this, Sehun whipped his head around and stuck out his stuck at Baekhyun, nose scrunching up as his eyebrows dug deep into the center of his forehead. Baekhyun only responded in kind (aka, sticking out his own tongue and even adding a few sound effects).

Calming down, Baekhyun turned his gaze back to the professor, noticing how amused he seemed, before blushing furiously in embarrassment. “... Yeah, we’re close, so don’t misunderstand.”

Chuckling, the professor only laughed as he tightened and arranged the stands. “I can tell, so don’t worry about it.”

Smiling lightly, Baekhyun gave his first completed set of equipment a once over, double checking for any loose knobs or improper positioning as he explained Professor Zhang’s assessment.

“... That sounds pretty challenging,” the professor mumbled, eyebrows raised in slight surprise, “but honestly, it’s nothing less than I expect from Yixing.”

Seeing as how the TA had seemed surprised, Chanyeol only smiled as he proceeded to open up another case. “I mean, he’s been dubbed the “Nation’s Producer” multiple times back when he was active. He was extremely hard on himself,” the professor explained, “hence it honestly doesn’t surprise me how hard he is on his students too.”

While it _did_ make sense, Baekhyun still couldn’t help the slight pout forming on his lips as he wondered just how hard Professor Zhang had been on _himself_ during the time he was performing and producing music as an active artist, and he couldn’t help but mumble out his concern (however belated it was).

“Yeah,” the professor responded, surprising Baekhyun because he had thought that his opinion had gone pretty much inaudible, “he was _super_ hardworking, almost _too_ hardworking if I could say so myself.”

“Oh, you’ve known him since then?” Baekhyun wondered, because the way that Professor Park was speaking was akin to how someone would speak of a long time friend.

“Yup,” the professor responded, and upon catching the sight of the TA’s surprised gaze, let a small smile grace his lips. “We’ve been friends since we were in middle school honestly, so it’s been about 20 years since then?”

Baekhyun’s lips pursed in surprise, eyebrows raising as the corners of his lips drooped down in pleasant surprise.

~~But he also quickly calculated their age difference, and a five year age gap didn’t seem all too bad. In fact, it was _perfect_ , in Baekhyun’s own humble opinion. ~~

“Wow, that’s pretty long,” Baekhyun replied, the surprise evident in his tone, “have you guys ever collaborated?”

“Oh yes, we have!” the professor laughed, “I even helped in producing and writing lyrics for a few of his songs.” Glancing back up to face the TA, Chanyeol could see the anticipation swimming in the brown orbs, and Chanyeol knew that he won’t be able to help indulging the TA a bit.

“We worked together on ‘Promise’, you know that song?” the professor asked, and he was immediately responded with a pretty… _excited_ little TA.

“Oh my, yes!” Baekhyun exclaimed. The TA had his hands clasped together as his eyes literally started glinting in excitement. “It’s one of my favourite songs! I always cry at the end of it though, so I tend to skip it whenever it comes onto my playlist,” Baekhyun said, albeit sheepishly.

Laughing, Chanyeol only shook his head as he murmured a low “you’re really cute, you know that?”

… Now _that_ definitely caught the attention of everyone in the room.

Feeling his face burn a bright red ( _again_ ), Baekhyun let a small, but shy smile grace his face, muttering a small “thank you” to the Professor.

Chuckling lightly, eyes scrunching up adorably, Chanyeol went back to fixing up the next set of equipment.

However, an observation which he made during the past few encounters he had with the TA had him extremely curious, hence why the professor didn’t exactly think his next words through as he blurted them out.

“Do you blush easily, Baekhyun?” which brought out a round of snickers from both Kyungsoo and Sehun, and as Baekhyun quickly glanced back up, lips parted to blurt out a denial and, hopefully, _reasonable_ explanation for how he does _not_ blush easily, Kyungsoo had beat him to it.

“Only around hot men, Professor Park.”

…

…

…

“Ow! That hurt, you dick!”

“Be thankful I didn’t get to the cymbals, Do Kyungsoo.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sehun and Kyungsoo are both asses but what can they do, they both love Baekhyun. Besides, who doesn't love to tease him? He's adorable!
> 
> Also, ChanBaek finally know each other's names! At least, officially. Baekhyun's known Chanyeol's since day 1 but don't let the latter know that.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sehun's finally got the wind of it, and well, what's wrong with playing a little Cupid?

**_OPERATION: GBBLBPPC, COMMENCE!_ **

 

Quickly packing up his notebooks, pencil case and laptop, Oh Sehun quickly rushed down the steps of the lecture hall towards the exit. It was the end of the fifth week, meaning they still had a week of assessment and submission left, which was why Sehun’s dance group (which Jongin was also a part of) had decided to take a break from dancing and instead focus on their individual assessments and submissions.

Which was why Sehun was now headed to the campus coffee shop, assessment materials all packed up in his bag (hence explaining why it was much heavier today as compared to, well, _normal_ days).

Feet steadily thumping against the paved cement, Sehun spotted the coffee shop just a ways away, sending a silent _thanks man_ up to God because _damn_ , was the walk long.

… Which made Sehun inwardly curse the business students and whoever the hell decided that the coffee house be placed within the business block because not only was the Business Faculty all the way on the other side of campus (as compared to the Arts), but _what, do only business students need a place to pump caffeine and study?_

However, Sehun was quickly brought out of his business-cursing reverie, because what, or more specifically, _who_ he saw exciting the coffee shop _definitely_ caught his attention.

Why, it was none other than a certain Professor Park Chanyeol.

Eyebrows raising in mild curiosity, alongside a wholesome serving of amusement, Sehun couldn’t help but snicker at the latest memory that he had of the professor.

 

 

 

_“Be thankful I didn’t get to the cymbals, Do Kyungsoo.”_

_With Kyungsoo still wincing and his face still burning a bright red, Baekhyun quickly scrambled about in his head for a reasonable excuse, and finally breathed a sigh of relief (inwardly) when a plausible, well,_ excuse _, popped up._

_“... I just don’t really get complimented a lot,” Baekhyun began meekly, trying to get an ounce of confidence into his voice in hopes of making himself more believable, “so, that’s why it always comes as surprise whenever you, I guess, compliment me?”_

_Upon seeing a look of contemplation and, thankfully, understanding dawn on the Professor’s face, Baekhyun huffed out a breath as Professor Park hummed in acknowledgment._

_“Well, you better get used to them, then,” the professor grinned cheekily, sending yet_ another _wink in the TA’s direction._

_… To which Baekhyun had only blushed (of course)._

 

 

 

Sehun had witnessed the entire exchange, and honestly, “ _I just don’t really get complimented a lot_ ”, really? Baekhyun definitely pulled that one out of his ass, but Sehun was more dumbfounded at the fact that the professor had actually _believed_ that sad excuse.

… Either that, or the professor was just being polite.

And as much as Sehun had wanted to see Baekhyun get even more flustered around his _more-than-obvious_ “little” crush, he would rather his hyung save some of his ~~non-existent~~ dignity and, instead of constantly admiring the Professor from the sidelines, actually step forward and make a move on him, and get the professor to fall _for him_ this time around.

I mean, that would be more dramatic and cliche, wouldn’t it? Plus, it would probably make things easier for Baekhyun, considering how his TA, whom he had cornered along with Kyungsoo the day after that whole fiasco with Professor Park in the lecture hall, had basically stated that it would not be worth it trying to go for the Professor.

Reason? Quote unquote, “ _he’s literally out of league Sehun, he’s a multi-talented handsome got-my-shit-together-by-30 professor whilst I’m some deformed foetus that can’t even afford a decent lunch sometimes because of my impressive train record of poor choices and and my less-than-impressive paycheque._ _*deep inhale*_ ”

And even though Sehun did agree _completely_ with the very accurate description said by none other than the man himself, Sehun would _not_ let Baekhyun let that stop himself from being fucked by the epitome of a Daddy.

… Never mind the fact that whatever Baekhyun had said was true.

But moving on.

Which was why, even though Sehun had initially planned to work on his assessments and submissions during this time (the reason why he was walking all across campus anyway, fuck the Business School), he _did_ come prepared with a very rough outline of what he dubbed the “Operation: Get Byun Baekhyun Laid By Professor Park Chanyeol”. Or, in short, Operation: GBBLBPPC.

And who better to conspire this entire plan with none other than his partner in crime, Kim Jongin?

Now, before we delve into the details of Sehun and Jongin’s interaction (which is happening right about now), let’s establish the fact that both of them, and more importantly, _Sehun_ , is _smart_. And that he also can’t keep things to himself.

So, that’s why, as soon as Sehun had confronted Baekhyun about his “little” crush on the, admittedly, _handsome_ professor, he had spilled everything to Jongin. And why wouldn’t he, when Jongin was his best friend, a part of their quartet, and lastly, _in one of Professor Park’s other classes_?

But of course, Sehun _did_ inform Baekhyun that he did in fact inform Jongin, and _that_ earned him a couple of smacks on his arm because “ _I swear to God, Sehun, if you two pull some funny shit or worse, try to play cupid, I will literally rip your balls off_.”

… It probably would have been intimidating to anyone else, but considering that _Baekhyun_ (tiny 2-feet-tall little midget) was threatening _Oh Sehun_ (tall, broad, strong young man with amazing arms and abs), Sehun didn’t take it to heart.

Baekhyun wouldn’t be able to reach his balls even if he tried, anyway.

(At least, that’s what Sehun _prays_ , the midget could be scary when angry).

Anyway, back to the point.

So _now_ , as Sehun enters the coffee shop armed with not only his due assignments (which he isn’t technically worried about, considering how he basically completed everything already. All that’s left is a few touch-ups which can be completed in an hour at most), but a mind brimming with a multitude of ideas and plans and formations for GBBLBPPC.

Spotting Jongin, who was perched on one of the more private booths nestled in the corner of the shop, Sehun quickly strutted his way over, the excitement thrumming in his veins because _they finally get to play cupid!_

…

… I mean, Baekhyun doesn’t _have_ to know.

Besides, Sehun would like to think that both himself and Jongin were actually doing their TA a favour; Baekhyun can finally stop lusting over the professor and actually make his Professor-TA porn fantasies that he jacks off to every night a _reality_.

… Not that they know about his nightly routine but it’s 67% probable.

Striding his way over to Jongin, Sehun quickly dumped his backpack across the table, startling Jongin from his musings, and Sehun couldn’t help but laugh at the overly exaggerated face Jongin had greeted him with.

“Dude,” Sehun huffed out through fits of laughter, “you look like as though your mom caught you watching porn,” to which Jongin responded by scrunching his nose as he balled up his used coffee-spill-soaked napkin, hurling it towards Sehun.

But the napkin _didn’t_ leave Jongin’s balled up fist, and Jongin had immediately burst into laughter upon seeing the way Sehun’s _own_ face scrunched up (pretty uglily) at the prospect of getting hit by a brown, soaked napkin.

“Dude, you look _so_ ugly when you do that!” Jongin huffed out through those short gaps amidst his guffaws, needing a breath.

That statement, of course, did not _flatter_ Sehun in any way whatsoever (was even downright _r00d_ , if you asked him, nevermind that he basically said the same thing about Jongin earlier on), but knowing that they had more pressing things to talk about, Sehun ended their bickering by giving an over dramatic eye roll before sliding into the opposite seat in the booth.

“Whatever, loser,” Sehun murmured, waving his hand in front of his face, seemingly to wave off Jongin’s _poor sense of humour_. “We have more important things to discuss.”

Glaring at the still chuckling Jongin (honestly, what a _child_ , finding a funny face _that_ funny… and _no_ , Sehun’s totally _not_ a hypocrite), Sehun started unpacking his bag, pulling out the papers and notes on GBBLBPPC he made the night before.

The papers were nothing more than a bunch of loose scraps torn out from notebooks (if the rough, jagged edges were anything to go by), and were filled with nothing but ink scribbles of varying colours, from blues, reds, and blacks to even a few glittery yellows and cyan blues (how could Sehun even have read that, Jongin doesn’t know).

As Jongin, who had finally calmed down from his high, reached out for the papers, he was stopped pretty abruptly by Sehun’s loud “Wait!”

Looking up from where he had started (or at least, _tried_ to make sense of the chicken scrawls that was Sehun’s handwriting), Jongin glanced up to meet gazes with Sehun. However, that plan went out the window, seeing as how Sehun had his gaze towards the doors of the shop, like as though he was looking for someone.

“... What?”

Spinning back around, Sehun made a quick grab of Jongin’s closest arm, pulling him in. “I saw Professor Park leaving this _same_ shop as I was coming here,” Sehun asked, suspicion lacing his tone, “what was he doing here?”

At that, Jongin simply shrugged. “We actually had a session relating to my assessment,” Jongin explained, “I was wrapping everything up and asking for any bits of advice. He gave them, I’m gonna implement them tonight, then submit my assessment tomorrow.”

Sehun simply pursed his lips in response, seeing as the professor-student session made sense (after all, Professor Park _was_ the professor in charge of one of Jongin’s classes anyway). However, there was still one thing bothering him.

“... But why come all the way across campus for some generic, overpriced coffee? Don’t we have a cafe back in the Arts building?”

“Well,” Jongin began, “apparently Professor Park thinks that this coffee shop has the _best_ coffee on campus. He comes here a lot, a regular is what he described himself to be.”

And _that_ piqued Sehun’s interest.

“... Regular as in,” Sehun started, voice dropping low as he scrutinised the ever oblivious Jongin, who once again had his eyes tracing all over the sad excuse of a “game-plan” that is GBBLBPPC, “ _how_ regular?”

“Oh,” Jongin looked up, head tilted a little to the side as he tried to remember what the Professor had said, “like, every Thursday? We end class at 4.00pm, so he’s usually here by 4.10pm to 4.15pm?”

Noticing the smirk slowly creeping up along Sehun’s lips, Jongin couldn’t help the slight shudder that ran down his spine as his best friend mumbled a low, “ _Perfect_ ”.

 

* * *

 

**OPERATION: GET BYUN BAEKHYUN LAID BY PROF. PARK CHANYEOL (GBBLBPPC)**

**PHASE 1** : OPERATION CUTE COFFEE SHOP AU  
**DATE OF COMMENCEMENT** : WEEK 6, THURSDAY  
**LOCATION** : STARBUCKS  
**TIME** : 4.15PM

**PERSONS INVOLVED (IN ORDER OF IMPORTANCE)**

     1. KIM JONGIN  
     ALSO 1. DO KYUNGSOO

PLAN: (SEE BELOW)

 

Jongin rolled his eyes and pursed his lips in annoyance as he was subjected to another bout of whining from the self-proclaimed _adult_ whose wrist was clasped in his hand.

“Jong _iiiin_ ,” Baekhyun whined, feet scrambling along the cement as he tried to yank his wrist free from the immensely tight grip the student had on his wrist. He had a feeling that it was going to bruise (he’s _sensitive_ !) soon. “Why are we even going to _Starbucks_ ? I don’t have the money to spare for some cup of generic, pathetic excuse of _gourmet_ coffee,” the whining commenced, “and like, I don’t even _like_ coffee!”

Jongin rolled his eyes, still pulling the TA along as they got closer to where the campus Starbucks was. “Don’t worry, they have hot chocolate for kids.”

At that, Baekhyun’s face immediately scrunched up in a displeased frown, canines barred as he balled up the fist of his free hand and started thumping it against the student’s back.

… Or, at least, _tried_ too, seeing as how Jongin was a couple of steps ahead and was blessed with long limbs, hence contributing to the, _unfortunately_ , _too_ big of a distance between the two of them.

Which means that Baekhyun was, at _best_ , hitting the air.

But _thankfully_ , somehow or rather, Baekhyun had managed to land a pretty solid hit on Jongin’s broad back (after having to pick up his pace a little in order to close a bit of the distance).

“Hah!” Baekhyun exclaimed, victorious grin stretching across his face as he did a little victory whoop. Another thing that added onto his happiness was the fact that Jongin had abruptly stopped, whining a loud “Ow!” as he turned around to face the tiny TA.

“Hyung, that hurt, you know!” Jongin grumbled, hand quickly releasing Baekhyun’s wrist to allow both his hands to reach back, attempting to soothe the spot which Baekhyun had hit.

“Well, you deserved it,” Baekhyun sassed, arms coming up to cross over his torso as he began tapping his feet against the cement (honestly, what a white bitch), “I’m not gonna walk 14 miles to pay $132 for 2ml of coffee that I don’t even like, you know.”

Still wincing, Jongin quickly flipped his head around, and upon noticing that Starbucks was literally just a few strides away (at least, _Jongin_ -strides, the distance was probably a _Baekhyun_ -short-distance-run away for the other).

“Well, too bad, because you just _did_ ,” Jongin smirked, reaching out to hold onto one of Baekhyun’s forearms, successfully yanking his arms free and dragging him once more to the coffee shop. “And besides, I’ll pay for whatever drink or cake or anything that you want when it’s time to order,” and to finally ease the TA, Jongin pulled out the _I’m-the-younger-one-and-I-adore-you_ card, “I just want to spend time with you, that’s all.”

The reaction was immediate ( _God_ , Baekhyun was such a softie), because Jongin could feel Baekhyun literally melt, losing all tension trailing along his veins, and growing more compliant.

Which was the best news for Jongin because honestly, even though Baekhyun was small, he could _literally_ stand his ground when he wants to. So _now_ , he didn’t have to exert as much effort into _just_ pulling the TA along.

Thank God that both Sehun and himself found out about the _softie_ side of their TA and, even _better_ , had learnt how to use it to their advantage.

“... Okay then,” Baekhyun mumbled, and Jongin smirked upon hearing the faint traces of shyness in the TA’s tone, “... but I’m gonna order a Venti and every slice of cake, so prepare your wallet, Kim Jongin.”

Chuckling lightly, because he _knows_ Baekhyun wouldn’t do that (he’s too nice of a person to accept gifts others have bought for him willingly, much less take advantage of a situation where someone is willing to buy for him literally whatever he wants), Jongin shook his head as he continued walking towards the coffee shop, Baekhyun’s forearm still clasped in his fist.

But it’s not like it’ll have a great effect on his wallet anyway, so Jongin doesn’t mind, really.

“Honestly,” Baekhyun began, breaking the silence that had enveloped them as soon as Jongin’s chuckles had died down, “with how rich you are, why don’t you try being a sugar daddy?”

Baekhyun had on a shit-eating grin, and was honestly expecting Jongin to turn around, face lined with disgust  and disbelief (because, after all, Jongin was only 20, and isn’t there a minimum age requirement that you have to meet to be able to qualify as a sugar daddy?). However, he was instead faced with Jongin’s own amused face, corner of his lips quirking up and Baekhyun immediately knew that he was not going to like what he was about to hear.

“Yeah, I guess I could spoil my sugar baby if I ever get one” he began, voice riddled with sass and amusement, “but I’m sure _you’d_ rather be _Professor Park’s_ baby, wouldn’t you, hyung?”

…

…

…

This time, Baekhyun’s fist didn’t miss _at all_.

 

* * *

 

 **+82 002-6002-6699:  
** _Okay, he just left._

 

 **Me:  
** _Wait what who is this_

 

 **+82 002-6002-6699:  
** _Do Kyungsoo?  
_ _Isn’t this Jongin?_

 

 **Me:  
** _Oh yeah_  
_Sorry hahah  
_ _I’ll save your number now_

 

 **Soo:  
** _…_  
_Okay, anyway, I’ve managed to distract him enough._  
_At least I hope._  
_He’s on his way there now.  
_ _Are you guys there already?_

 

 **Me:  
** _Yeah_  
_We’re here  
_ _Don’t worry hyung_

 

 **Me:  
** _Oh yeah_  
_Thanks hyung!  
_ _Operation GBBLBPPC Phase 1, COMMENCE!_

 

 **Soo:  
** _…  
_ _Don’t fuck it up._

 

Snickering, Jongin quickly pocketed his phone as he gave a once over to his surroundings.

Both Baekhyun and himself had gotten a seat at one of the more exposed seating areas (something which Baekhyun had apparently had great distaste in, but when Jongin pulled out a “the high counter seats let me swing my legs, hyung, it’s something I haven’t done since I was like 8”, Baekhyun relented).

The heightened chairs were placed right smack in the middle of the shop, and considering how it that meant that practically _everything_ was within vicinity (counter, collection point, trash can, washroom), Baekhyun had to agree that it was pretty convenient sitting here.

Not that he’d stay here for _long_ , but at least it’ll be better than being cooped up in a corner.

Swinging his legs (something which Baekhyun hadn’t done since he was 13, but don’t tell Jongin that), Baekhyun took in the entire shop and basked in its ambiance.

Even though the TA doesn’t go to coffee shops often, he had to say that they did provide quite a conducive environment for studying, taking in the throng of students cooped up in the various booths and seats, styrofoam, plastic, and ceramic cups littered about the tables.

… Which reminded Baekhyun of his supposed _free_ cup of steaming hot chocolate.

“Jongin”, Baekhyun drawled, foot swinging out from where it had hooked onto one of the rungs of the chair, knocking against Jongin’s shin, “when are we gonna order?”

At that, Jongin’s eyebrows immediately furrowed, halting in the midst of his surveying of the shop. He looked almost like he was looking for someone, and even though Jongin had the benefit of sitting across where the doors were, that _still_ didn’t give him the right to practically ignore Baekhyun. I mean, c’mon, wasn’t _he_ the one whining about wanting to spend time with the TA? How r00d.

“Ah,” he stalled, “you hungry _now_?”

At Baekhyun’s nod, Jongin immediately scrambled about his head for a reason to wait out at least 10 more minutes. That was how long it took to come over to this part of the campus from the Arts side, and considering how Professor Park had only _just_ left, they’ll have to wait at least 10 minutes before they get to order.

It’s all part of Sehun and Jongin’s intelligently crafted plan, don’t worry.

Finally, an idea came to mind. “Okay, but if you order now,” Jongin began, arms folding across the table top, head cocking to the side, “ _you_ pay for _your_ food.”

Which brought out sputters and rebukes from Baekhyun immediately (how predictable). Bringing his finger up, Baekhyun pointed straight at Jongin as he frowned out a  “ _You_ said that you’d pay for me, you asshole!”

“I said that I’d pay for whatever you wanted _when it’s time to order_ ,” Jongin smirked, the cockiness permeating the air around him (how _stanky_ , Baekhyun thought). “And I say that _now’s not_ the time to order.”

Upon seeing the smirk and the raised eyebrow seemingly _plastered_ onto the student’s face, Baekhyun knew he had lost.

And he dealt his loss with Jongin the way he always does whenever he lost to either Jongin or Sehun.

He whined.

“But I’m hungry _noooooow_ ,” Baekhyun started kicking his feet against the legs of the chair, head swinging back as his lips pulled into a pout. He would have started flapping his arms, knowing that _that_ would probably get him what he wanted, but Jongin’s next words interrupted him before he could do so.

“Well, you either wait for like 10 minutes for basically a free flow of food,” the student began, “or you can order now and pay $6.00 for one slice of cake. It’s really your choice.”

Baekhyun’s whining died down immediately, face now instead morphing into a frown as he glared daggers at the innocently smiling student.

“You’re such an ass.”

“Take that back or I won’t buy y—”

“ _I take it back!”_

 

 

 

“Rock, paper, scissors, go!”

Both putting their hands out simultaneously, the charged silence only lasted for a beat before the entire cafe was overcome by two sounds; a victorious whoop and a devastated whine.

“How’ve you been winning for four times straight?” Baekhyun whined, eyebrows scrunched in despair, “it’s not fair!”

Drawing back his open palm, which had won over Baekhyun’s clenched fist for the second time, Jongin smirked as one eyebrow twitched upwards cockily. “Too bad,” he sing-songed, voice drawling in arrogance, “luck’s probably not on your side today.”

Huffing in exasperation, Baekhyun just rolled his eyes as he raised his fist back, resting on his shoulder. “Whatever, Jongin,” Baekhyun murmured, and even though he had tried to come off as indifferent to his loss (yet _again_ ), Jongin could see the spark of determination in the TA’s eyes bright and clearly. “I’m _so_ gonna whoop your ass with this one.”

Jongin only huffed, the cocky smirk not leaving his lips as he too, albeit lazily (because he had an inkling that he’d still win this round), raised his fist back behind his head. “We’ll see about that, hyung, we’ll s—”

At Jongin’s abrupt pause, Baekhyun glanced back up at the student’s face, noticing the slight widening of his eyes and the way his jaw had hung open. Baekhyun noticed how Jongin’s eyes were apparently trailing along something… _behind_ the TA?

Wanting to figure out just what got the student’s attention, Baekhyun had lowered his arm and braced his hand against the table, in hopes of using it as support to twist his body around. However, he was swiftly interrupted by Jongin, with the student seemingly shooting about of his seat in order to get a firm hold on Baekhyun.

The action definitely startled Baekhyun, who visibly _jumped_ in his seat as he stared wide eyed at Jongin, who was still sporting the same face, probably the same one that Baekhyun had on his own. Also, if Jongin had _not_ wanted the TA to turn around, he definitely succeeded.

“Dude,” Baekhyun breathed, chest rapidly rising and falling, “ _relax_!”

Apparently Baekhyun’s short exclamation was enough for Jongin to snap out of whatever weirdo trance he was in, because Baekhyun was greeted by a sheepish smile and some awkward laughter a moment later.

With an eyebrow raised in poor confusion and, if Baekhyun was being completely honest, _apprehension_ , the TA cautiously sent a gaze over to the student, who was now, _thankfully_ , seated back at his seat, rubbing the nape of his neck in embarrassment. “Ah, sorry about that” Jongin mumbled, “just saw a friend I hadn’t seen in a while.”

At that, the tinkle of the coffee shop house could be heard, and with Baekhyun’s curiosity now piqued (because Jongin’s statement hinted at some unspilt _tea_ , hopefully), and with Jongin having his ass back on his seat, nothing could have stopped Baekhyun from turning around and catching a glimpse of wherever this _friend_ was.

Which was exactly what he did.

…

…

…

 _Fuck_ , he’s _so_ going to kill Jongin.

 

 

 

“What the fuck is he doing here.”

Jongin’s _flight or fight_ instincts immediately kicked in, and although his reflexes had told him that the former should be the one he should go with, his promise with himself and Sehun (which is to get their beloved TA some dick) held him back from straight up running.

“ _Relax_ ,” Jongin soothed, “I didn’t even know he was going to be here—”

“Don’t _lie_ to me Jongin,” Baekhyun threatened, the hand that was perched on the table ledge coming loose, instead raising up to form a fist, “I swear to God, I _told_ Sehun _exactly_ what I’d do if I found out he was playing cupid—”

“And trust me, I heard it too,” Jongin placated, “But I swear that today was just a coincidence!”

Baekhyun obviously didn’t believe him, if the sudden snarl and nose scrunch were anything to go by. Proceeding to grab his satchel bag, Baekhyun quickly stuffed his phone in the bag as he firmly hissed out a “I am leav—”

But too bad he was interrupted by none other than the object of his admirations or whatever _the hell_ he is, _Professor Park Chanyeol_.

“Oh, hey!” the professor breathed, the pleasant surprise audible in his tone, “fancy meeting you guys here!”

Biting his bottom lip to prevent any more _idiot_ -induced huffs from escaping, Baekhyun swiftly hooked his satchel bag up his shoulder. “Ah, hey,” Baekhyun greeted, eyes flickering up to meet the gaze of the Professor (with whom he _still_ couldn’t look at for more than three seconds straight even though they now officially know each other but whatEVER), “we were just about to—”

“—To order!” Jongin interrupted, startling the wits out of the two other people, earning a surprised gaze and a murderous one on himself. “Yeah, we were just about to order, Professor Park!”

Which apparently, confused the professor as his face morphed into a frown, as he glanced back at Baekhyun, eyeing the bag still hooked on his shoulder in particular.

“Oh,” Jongin interrupted, earning both gazes back on himself once more as he began walking over to where Baekhyun was sat at, “hyung just likes to keep his belongings with him at all times, he’s a prude like that.”

And the hit he got on his arm was something that Jongin had expected, along with the ~~whine~~ _yell_ crying out “I am _not_ a prude, you _twat_!”

Jongin winced once more as Baekhyun landed a solid hit on his forearm, clutching at it as he hissed out a loud “Ow?!”, to which Baekhyun responded by sticking his tongue out at him.

Chanyeol could very well see where this entire exchange was going, and he couldn’t help but laugh. “Alright, alright,” the professor intervened, trying, but failing, to hide his amusement if the chuckles he still let escape were anything to go by. “Let’s go order now, shall we?”

At that, both the student and the TA stopped bickering immediately and turned to face the patiently waiting professor.

Cocking his head towards the counter, the Professor raised his eyebrows as he waited for the other two to get the hint. Thankfully, it didn’t take long and it wasn’t soon after did Jongin nodded his head in agreement. Turning to face the TA, Chanyeol took note of the bright red blooming across his cheeks, even staining the tips of his ears, and he couldn’t help the sudden warmth spreading about his chest at the, honestly, pretty endearing sight.

The TA was _adorable_.

“... After you,” the professor said, gesturing with his hand this time towards the counter, not unlike that of chivalrous princes to their courting princesses. After all, it was only polite that everyone else goes ahead first, that’s the act of a gentleman, isn’t it?

Noticing the outstretched hand, and also how he had been basically _abandoned_ by Jongin (because the idiot was already at the counter, queueing by his lonesome), Baekhyun hurriedly scrambled down from where he was perched on the seat.

He’d like to avoid any and all situations where he would be alone with the modern-day Adonis, thank you very much.

However, seeing as how Baekhyun was, say, _vertically challenged_ , and the fact that he didn’t exactly have the longest legs ever, and _also_ the fact that he wasn’t really used to sitting on such high chairs…

… he tumbled.

Apparently his foot got lost amidst the rungs and legs of the chair, and considering the fact that he wasn’t holding onto the table ledge this time (one doesn’t need support to _get down_ from anything), Baekhyun came tumbling down, his chair not far along either.

Eyes shutting and arms braced for impact, Baekhyun had expected to get acquainted with the smooth marble of the floor, and for his nose to get scheduled for a trip to the hospital. After all, that’s what falling from basically your own height does to you, right?

Which was why the TA was _definitely_ surprised when he was _not_ met with the cold, hard, unnecessarily expensive and unforgiving floor, but with something that is, although still firm, but much softer and _warmer_ to the touch.

“Woah,” a deep, gritty voice rumbled from somewhere above the still shell-shocked Baekhyun (also, _why the hell did the thing he was leaning on rumble?_ ), “careful there.”

With his brain still trying to process the events of the past two seconds, Baekhyun only blinked blearily at the… _thing_ (?) he was leaning on.

Soft, knitted grey wool…?

“Hey,” the voice rumbled again, and _slowly_ things started processing in Byun Baekhyun HQ, “you okay?”

Suddenly, everything came onto him at once. Apparently Byun Baekhyun HQ thought that it was fun to dump all the information into the “Things To Process, Like, _Now_ ” folder, and that included memories, thought processes, and _worst_ , _touch_.

Baekhyun could immediately feel the warmth encasing his entire frame, his arms that were braced in front of his face were now leaning against what was probably a _chest_ (an extremely built, and firm one at that, wOW), and this chest probably belonged to someone.

Someone being _Park Chanyeol_.

Eyes widening in realisation, Baekhyun couldn’t help the sudden bright burning of his cheeks, the blood rushing so fast up his veins that he almost felt dizzy. With newfound, albeit shaken strength, Baekhyun balled his hands up into fists as he began attempting to push himself off of the sturdy chest of the Professor. He _was_ genuinely thankful that the professor helped him break his fall, but Baekhyun would also like to _not_ break the last thread of dignity he still has left.

But his attempts were rendered futile.

Why?

Oh, nothing, it’s just that _apparently_ , the Professor had also wrapped his just as strong arm around his waist as well.

Baekhyun was hence rendered basically powerless, and stuck in a position that although he has _dreamt_ off _multiple_ times, is something that he’s like to avoid IRL.

In the midst of his musings, Baekhyun suddenly felt the wool beneath his fists shift, almost like as though the Professor was shifting to… face him?

Knowing that his face was still extremely red, much more with the embarrassment running through his veins, Baekhyun couldn’t let the professor see him _right now_. Shoulders hunching up over his ears, Baekhyun tried to subtly shy away from the professor, teeth biting down on his bottom lip in embarrassment.

“... Baekhyun?”

However, even though the TA could very well hear the concern lacing the professor’s call for his name, Baekhyun still refused to respond, afraid of his voice breaking. Chin digging deeper into his chest, Baekhyun responded by minutely shaking his head.

… But apparently it wasn’t enough to satisfy the professor, because Baekhyun felt a thumb hook under his chin, bringing his face from the mini chest-burial and up…

… to face the ever so handsome one of a certain Park Chanyeol.

“... You okay?”

 

 

 

Honestly, if _Baekhyun_ had been watching this _exact_ scene play out in a theatre and he was part of the audience, _this_ was when he’d be squealing in happiness and vicarious-couple-moment-where-Baekhyun- _pretends_ -that- _he’s_ -the-one-getting-his-chin-lifted because _hey_ , romantic, right?

But now that he actually _is_ the love interest, and _he_ is the one getting his chin lifted, and _he_ is probably going to need to go to the hospital soon because his heart was palpitating perhaps _too_ fast, Baekhyun would like to skip this damn scene _entirely_.

Because Park Chanyeol was _handsome_.

But a Park Chanyeol, who helped support Baekhyun and literally _catch_ him from his fall, supporting him with his built and firm chest and had his strong, thick arm wrapped around his waist, and _also_ , was extremely concerned and super whispery and just so downright _boyfriend_ , was just… _too handsome_.

Park Chanyeol should be illegal.

A sudden quirk of the professor’s eyebrow immediately pulled Baekhyun from his hot-professor induced trance. Quickly shaking his head in a vain attempt to get rid of whatever cliche plot, and to get his bearings right again, Baekhyun could finally process the professor’s question.

“Uh,” he began, praying that the waver in his voice went unnoticed by the Professor, “yeah, I’m— I’m okay.”

Quickly averting his eyes and breaking the gaze between the two of them, Baekhyun instead focused on the way his fists were still perched on the man’s chest.

~~Honestly, the sight was really cute but what _ever_ . ~~

“... Okay,” the professor breathed, voice seemingly _much_ closer and more breathier than it was before, “as long as you’re okay.”

…

Did he _have_ to say that? Baekhyun’s heart was going to beat itself right out of his ribs at this rate.

“And,” the professor murmured, arm tightening around Baekhyun’s waist when he noticed that the TA was about to pull away, “be more careful next time, yeah?”

Rapidly nodding his head to show that he understood, and to also quickly agree and get this conversation over and done with because as much as Baekhyun would _love_ to bask in Park Chanyeol’s embrace, he’d much rather do it in his dreams because IRL Baekhyun’s heart _can’t take this anymore_.

“Y—Yeah, I will,” the TA whispered, voice not a beat louder, “I’ll be more careful next time.”

A low chuckle, one which Baekhyun felt through his hands that were still on the man’s sweater-clad chest, was what he was responded with.

“Good,” the professor began, arm around his waist tightening _just_ a tad before proceeding to slowly, but steadily loosen and unwind, “because I might not be here to catch you next time.”

 

 

 

With a cocky smirk plastered on his face, eyebrows dancing across his forehead, Jongin only watched, lips pursed tight to prevent the laugh from escaping, as Baekhyun strutted over to where Jongin was in the queue, red from his ears right down to the skin of his neckline.

“... Shut the fuck up.”

“ _I didn’t even say anything!_ ”

 

* * *

 

 **Me:  
** _Kim Jongin reporting from Starbucks_  
_Operation GBBLBPPC Phase 1 went better than expected_  
_Actually_  
_In fact  
_ _It didn’t even go according to plan_

 

 **Sehun:  
** _Then how is that better than expected?!  
_ _Jongin you literally had one job_

 

 **Soo:  
**_Jongin I specifically_ **_told_ ** _you to NOT fuck up_

 

 **Me:  
** _NO_  
_WAIT_  
_LIKE  
_ _Okay let me clarify something_

 

 **Soo:  
** _Enlighten me._

 

 **Me:  
** _PROF PARK_  
_IS ACTUALLY  
_ _SUPER FUCKING SMOOTH_

 

 **Sehun:  
** _Don’t give me that bs  
_ _Tell us the real story_

 

 **Me:  
** _IM SERIOUS ??????_  
_So like  
_ _Baek Hyung tumbled as he was getting down from the high chair_

 

 **Sehun:  
** _Pfft  
_ _What a child_

 

 **Soo:  
** _Not surprising_

 

 **Me:  
** _ikr_  
_But anyway_  
_he was like FALLING_  
_buT THEN  
_ _GUESS WHAT_

 

 **Soo:  
** _What?_

 

 **Sehun:  
** _Get straight to he mfing POINT  
_ _Or istg I’ll castrate you_

 

 **Me:  
** _Omg chill  
_ _You sound like Baek Hyung Sehun_

 

 **Sehun:  
** _*gasp* take that back  
_ _I am NOT a prude_

 

 **Me:  
** _Omg that’s what I said too_

 

 **Soo:  
** _JONGIN.  
_ _THE POINT?!_

 

 **Me:  
** _Oh yeah_  
_BROS_  
_PROF PARK CAUGHT HIM  
_ _HE PULLED A WHOLE SMOOTH DADDY_

 

 **Sehun:  
** _WhAT?_  
_WHAT THE FUCK  
_ _DON’T PLAY WITH ME BOI ISTG_

 

 **Soo:  
** _He did NOT.  
_ _Jongin what the fuck are you on._

 

 **Me:  
** _IM SERIOUS ?????_  
_PROF WRAPPED HIS WHOLE ARM AROUND HYUNGS WAIST_  
_THEN BECAUSE HYUNG WAS BEING THE SHY BLUSHING VIRGIN THAT HE IS_  
_HE COULDNT LOOK UP TO FACE PROF_  
_AND YOU KNOW WHAT PROF DID ??????  
_ _OMFG_

 

 **Sehun:  
** _WHAT DID HE DO_

 

 **Soo:  
** _HURRY. UP. KIM. JONGIN._

 

 **Me:  
** _Yall are so impatient and rude but ANYWAY_  
_BITCHES_  
_HE_  
_HOOKED_  
_HIS_  
_FINGERS_  
_UNDER_  
_HYUNGS_  
_CHIN_  
_THEN_  
_TILTED_  
_HYUNGS_  
_FACE  
_ _UP_

 

 **Sehun:  
** _NO._  
_FUCKING._  
_WAY.  
_ _BITCH THE FUCK ?????_

 

 **Soo:  
** _WHAT?!  
_ _PROF PARK IS NOT THAT SMOOTH COME ON._

 

 **Me:  
** _IM HELLA SHOOK TOO_  
_I NEVER KNEW HE WAS THIS SMOOTH_  
_BUT THE WORST THING IS_  
_HE SMILED AT HYUNG AFTER_  
_then whispered some cheesy shit probably_  
_BECAUSE HYUNGS FACE IMMEDIATELY GOT LIKE_  
_HELLA FUCKING RED_  
_which apparently, happens all the time around prof_  
_according to you guys  
_ _BUT YEAH_

 

 **Sehun:  
** _WHY THE FUCK WAS I NOT THERE_

 

 **Soo:  
** _… Wow.  
_ _Who would have known._

 

 **Me:  
** _I KNOW RIGHT_  
_But anyway_  
_I feel like eventually_  
_Theyll get together  
_ _Without our intervention_

 

 **Soo:  
** _Wait.  
_ _Then what about Operation GBBLBPPC?_

 

 **Sehun:  
** _If you even THINK about dropping the mission entirely I’m killing the both of you  
_ _You bitches I worked HARD ON THAT_

 

 **Me:  
** _BITCH ME TOO THE FUCK_

 

 **Sehun:  
** _Nobody cares about you Jongin_

 

 **Me:  
** _Omfg r00d ?????_

 

 

 **Soo:  
** _Wait so do we continue Operation GBBLBPPC?  
_ _Or not?_

 

 **Sehun:  
** _CONTINUE._  
_I’m NOT dropping this thing until I know that they get together  
_ _And possibly fuck each other_

 

 **Soo:  
** _Urgh TMI much?_

 

 **Sehun:  
** _THAT’S THE WHOLE POINT TO THIS THING._

 

 **Me:  
** _Whatever you two_  
_Lets get back to the important bits  
_ _OPERATION: GBBLBPPC - PHASE 2, COMMENCE!_

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love Jongin here, and I tried basing him off a little from Shinkyung from Andante. 
> 
> Anyway, yes Prof Park's super smooth. I gave tiny hints in the previous chapters; how he's super open to complimenting Baek, but it's a pretty big jump from the previous chapter to here (regarding his charaterisation), so, sorry about that!
> 
> But anyway, I hope you've enjoyed this chapter, and do leave comments down below to tell me what you liked, and maybe even what you're expecting in the coming remaining chapters, we've only got 2 left to go! Or you can hmu on Twitter, @zkxxdlin, and we can chat there! :D 
> 
> See you in the next update! :) <3


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Operation: GBBLBPPC... Success?

**PHASE 2: OPERATION CUTE BAKING AU**

**DATE OF COMMENCEMENT** : WEEK 8, THURSDAY  
**LOCATION** : OUR DORM  
**TIME** : 5.30PM

 **PERSONS INVOLVED (IN ORDER OF IMPORTANCE)** :

   1. DO KYUNGSOO  
   2. OH SEHUN  
   ALSO 2. KIM JONGIN

PLAN: (SEE BELOW)

 

The cheery ringing of the doorbell startled Baekhyun, which had surprised the TA because he wasn’t really expecting the house owners to have any other guests asides from him. After all, if they _were_ inviting other people, it would only be logical to inform the _other_ guests that there would be, well, _others_ , right?

But considering how the house owners were in fact Sehun and Jongin, Baekhyun didn’t even know why he’s trying. Much more, trying to argue why the two of them don’t have basic manners in his own _head_.

~~… How _lame_ . ~~

But Baekhyun couldn’t pin the blame or whatever on Jongin, considering how _he_ was still in class.

It was the _other_ one (Oh Sehun) that clearly didn’t have good host manners.

Shaking his head, Baekhyun shot up from the couch and headed towards the door, shouting a quick “I’ll get it!” to… _wherever_ in the house Sehun was.

Brushing a hand through his hair, taming the haphazard brown locks, Baekhyun smoothed out his clothing from as much I-was-just-lazing-on-the-couch evidence as possible before opening the door.

“Kyungsoo!” Baekhyun exclaimed, eyes crinkling up into tiny crescents as a grin stretched across his face. “What a pleasant surprise!”

Arms stretching outwards, Baekhyun took a step before engulfing the other TA in his arms. The two of them have gotten extremely close over the past few weeks, to the point where it was almost second nature and extremely comfortable to give out hugs.

Expecting to be hugged back in return, Baekhyun frowned in confusion (along with a _tiny_ hint of hurt) when he realised that Kyungsoo didn’t hug him back. With his lips pursed in a tiny pout, Baekhyun pulled back a little to look at Kyungsoo, wanting to see whether he could decipher whether there was anything bothering or upsetting the other man from his eyes alone.

However, a sudden rustle from somewhere below them caught his attention, and his eyes immediately trailed down the other TA’s frame to finally land on the bunch of grocery bags in Kyungsoo’s hands.

There were a _lot_ , and Baekhyun had noticed how _tight_ Kyungsoo’s grip on the handles were, the skin wrapped around the handles turning _white_.

“Woah,” Baekhyun breathed, eyes widening in shock as took in the almost innumerable bags, “what’d you even _buy_?”

As soon as Baekhyun took off some of the load, Kyungsoo let out an audible groan of relief. “Dinner for five, and ingredients for dessert.” As Kyungsoo pushed his way into the apartment, fingers singing at the much less weight they had to carry now, he nudged Baekhyun to walk on ahead.

Baekhyun had gotten confused, mentally counting the number of people that, now with Kyungsoo around, _should_ be present; Sehun, himself, Kyungsoo, and lastly, Jongin.

Who the hell was the fifth person?

“Wait,” Baekhyun started, the confusion and slight apprehension wrapping around his voice, “ _five_?”

Baekhyun knew he got Kyungsoo when he saw the man visibly bristle at his enquiry, how his shoulders tensed a little and how his steps faltered _just_ a tad as they approached the kitchen.

But the midget completely _ignored_ his question completely, even daring to play it off like as though he didn’t hear him at all, as Kyungsoo continued to walk on ahead, shouting a loud “Sehun, I’ve got the food!” into the apartment.

Eyebrows drawing together in a suspicious frown, as his lips pursed into an upset pout (because Baekhyun _knows_ that something’s fishy right now, he _knows_ ), Baekhyun quickly dumps his bags onto the countertop, right about the same time when Sehun came tumbling into the kitchen from a corner.

“Kyungsoo I swear—”

“Hyung!”

Honestly _curse_ Sehun and his knack for making cameos at the ~~best~~ _worst_ timings.

“What’dja buy?” the student continued on, seemingly unbothered by how he literally just cut Baekhyun off (moreover, completely ignoring Baekhyun’s glare that was landed on his side profile, which Baekhyun was sure was _deadly_ ).

Kyungsoo, upon hearing the student’s sudden shout, had apparently seemed _relieved_ , something which did not miss Baekhyun’s eyes at all. Kyungsoo then proceeded to place his own bags onto the counter, beside Baekhyun’s, before he turned and gave Sehun his complete attention.

“Well, I bought some bean paste and beef,” the self-declared chef-for-the-night began, proceeding to pull out the aforementioned ingredients from the grocery bags splayed out on the counter, “I was thinking of making beef bean paste stew, it’s a signature of my mom’s.”

Kyungsoo laid out the package of beef and the large jar of bean paste, before continuing to rummage about the bags. “I also bought some pork belly, to make some _samgyeopsal_ , and some stuff for _buchimgae_ , and also some snacks,” Kyungsoo finished. He also pulled out the ingredients from the bags, laying them next to the other items.

However, Kyungsoo did catch Sehun’s confused, yet even slightly _accusing_ gaze, and he closed his eyes as he nodded his head as a form of reassurance that _no Sehun, I did not forget_ . He then proceeded to rummage through the last bag, and finally pulled out the most _important_ ingredients (possibly the highlight of the night even), spreading them out on the table slightly further away from the other main ones.

“Lastly, I also got some baking stuff because _we_ ,” Kyungsoo paused, meeting gazes with the other two in the room; an amused yet slyly delighted one, and a ( _still_ ) confused one, “are gonna have cupcakes for dessert!”

Sehun whooped, but Kyungsoo could clearly see the glint of devious amusement swirling about the student’s eyes, and he couldn’t help but let his own smirk lift the corner of his lips. However, a sudden cough brought the both of them out of their devious, cupid-playing reverie.

Immediately whipping their heads about to face the _other_ TA in the room, Kyungsoo and Sehun simply blinked, too innocently almost, at the suspicious yet annoyed glare sent both their ways.

“... What?”

Baekhyun huffed, arms crossing over his chest as he rolled his eyes because he was, like, _soooooo_ done playing this game with his friends.

“What’s going on.” It wasn’t a question, it was a statement, almost akin to an observation or a fact. However, even though the tone it was said in was meant to be _intimidating_ , possibly to get Kyungsoo and Sehun shaking in their pants and have their balls shrivelled up in fear, this was _Baekhyun_ we’re talking about.

The Baekhyun who whines when he loses in rock paper scissors.

“... What do you mean _what’s going on_ ?” Sehun questioned, head tilted to his side and Baekhyun wanted to smack him for pulling his innocent act. _Clearly something was going on_ , if the way the both of them obviously had a _silent_ conversation earlier on was anything to go by!

“Baekhyun, honey,” Kyungsoo began, placing a hand on Baekhyun’s crossed arms, almost placatingly so, “people can’t have _silent_ conversations, they need to verbally communicate!”

Baring his teeth because _what a smart alec_ , Baekhyun shrugged off Kyungsoo’s arm upon catching sight of the futilely hidden smile on the other TA’s face. “Don’t change the subject!” Baekhyun exclaimed, lips pursing into a pout as his upset started to show, “firstly, who’s the fifth person?,” Baekhyun asked, pointedly glancing at Kyungsoo, “and secondly, why are we _baking_ ? We’ve never baked before, no matter the occasion! Plus, _none_ of us even _like_ sweet things!” He panted, face now morphed into different degrees of varying emotions; from confusion to apprehension, to suspicion and upset (for being left in the dark, of course).

“Urgh,” Sehun groaned, rolling his eyes at how over-the-top Baekhyun was behaving (because, _seriously_ , how _dramatic_ ), “ _relax_ , would you?” Sehun began. “To answer your first question, Jongin’s inviting one of his friends from his other classes, _that’s_ our fifth guest.”

Immediately Baekhyun’s frame melted, a hint of the tension and suspicion ebbing away at the seams. This did not go unnoticed by either Sehun or Kyungsoo, and with how much the two of them knew Baekhyun, the tiny glint of disappointment in Baekhyun’s eyes did not go unnoticed as well.

“... You seem disappointed though, for some reason,” Sehun murmured, purposefully loud enough to be heard by the other two in the room. Kyungsoo immediately snickered as Baekhyun’s cheeks began to spot a faint hue of red. Smirking, Sehun pressed on, “... Are you disappointed that it wasn’t a certain _professor_ that Jongin was bringing along?”

The swiftness with which Baekhyun had grabbed the nearest object (which was a bag of _Lays_ ) startled the other two. However, Sehun had quick reflexes, and had managed to catch the bag of chips as soon as it left Baekhyun’s hands.

“I am _not_ disappointed, you buttwipe!” Baekhyun vehemently denied, but as Sehun’s and Kyungsoo’s laughter only continued to grow alongside the remarks of “Sure, Baekhyun, whatever you say”s as well as “Make sure _you_ believe whatever you say first, hyung!”s, they did nothing to help Baekhyun calm down the fire that were his cheeks.

However, as soon as Baekhyun had decided to make a grab for the _next_ snack within his reach, the soft unlocking of the door interrupted him.

… Suspiciously, the door unlocking and swinging open had a much greater of an effect on the other two in the room. Sehun and Kyungsoo had both immediately clamped their lips shut and took a deep breath in simultaneously, back straightening into what was probably the _best_ posture in years.

A little perplexed (because after all, the only one who could have unlocked the door was _Jongin_ , who was probably with the aforementioned friend. Nothing so… _intimidating_ about the both of them, right?), Baekhyun slowly turned back around, curiosity driving him to catch a glimpse of whoever this friend was…

…

…

… Only to be met with the sight of Jongin conversing, rather softly, with none other than the above mentioned _certain professor_.

The snack which Baekhyun threw at Sehun was, _fortunately_ , _not_ caught by the latter this time, and Sehun’s little “Ow?!” was just the cherry on top.

 

* * *

 

Thing were… _awkward_.

As Baekhyun sat on the couch, huddled in the corner with a cushion propped under his chin, he glanced about the room at the four people.

It was barely 5.00pm, and considering how they usually at dinner at 7.00pm, Kyungsoo still had an hour or so before he would start on dinner ( _that’s how we get the food to be the most freshly-made, Baek_ ), which was why Kyungsoo was still seated with them and not in the kitchen.

Kyungsoo was on Baekhyun’s immediate right, with the two students leaning against the couch on the floor in front of Kyungsoo. The professor was on the other side of the L-shaped couch, one of his legs resting on the extension, stretched out in all its (probably) 42-inch glory, whilst the other was bent at the knee and on the floor. His legs were stretched wide apart though, since Professor Park had leant quite a considerable distance back, almost as if he was laying down on the couch.

His head was also thrown back, his long neck, blessed with a prominent Adam’s apple, on display. Moreover, probably because the current scene of the movie playing about on the student’s ridiculously large plasma TV ( _a little gift from the Kims to their son_ , see, told you that Jongin’s family was rich) _,_ was infuriating him, the professor had a slight furrow in between his brows as his lips pursed into a displeased pout.

Baekhyun’s eyes then trailed down the professor’s torso, eyes stopping at the collarbones that were shown only due to the fact that Professor Park had popped the first few buttons of his top open ~~and Baekhyun sent a silent _thanks_ to God because of that ~~. They were extremely prominent, and Baekhyun unconsciously bit his bottom lip as he spotted what could only be the beginnings of a tattoo lining the edge of the bone, disappearing under the soft cotton of the shirt as it bled into the professor’s shoulder.

“God,” Kyungsoo murmured, startling Baekhyun enough to send him jumping slightly, eyes widening in complete shock as he felt the first few tendrils of a heated blush creep up his neck, “stop lusting after him, Baekhyun.”

At that, Baekhyun sputtered out a hissed denial, but of course, with how _red_ his whole face was, Kyungsoo didn’t believe him one bit.

“Honestly,” Kyungsoo drawled, although bearing in mind to keep his voice down to a minimum, not wanting to risk the professor overhearing their conversation, “if you had wanted to switch seats with me, you could have just said so, darling.”

Noticing how Kyungsoo was preparing to get off the couch, Baekhyun couldn’t help the sudden panic from encasing his veins, driving him to do the thing he did next.

“Oh my, Baekhyun!” Kyungsoo gasped dramatically, the amusement evident to trained (basically everyone in the room _but_ the professor’s) ears as he glanced down at the brightly blushing, panic-stricken Baekhyun who had his arms out, hands clasped tightly around Kyungsoo’s forearm. “ _Relax_ , the movie’s not even scary!”

Not wanting to glance around at the others (because _obviously_ an outburst like that would have gotten their attention), Baekhyun tried to telepathically communicate a thanks to Kyungsoo for handing him a lifeline, whilst still murdering him mentally.

But at that time, Baekhyun could only focus on how Kyungsoo had basically handed him a lifeline; allowing a chance for him to play along to this… _scene_ of sorts. Baekhyun gets startled by the _movie_ , and not the possible chance of sitting next to the stupid ~~ly handsome~~ professor and retain some semblance of dignity.

“I’m just gonna head into the kitchen alright?” Kyungsoo explained, other hand coming up to clasp over Baekhyun’s own (almost as if he was comforting a child), making the act more believable.

Having caught Kyungsoo’s drift, Baekhyun gave a quick nod as he slowly unwound his fingers from Kyungsoo’s arm, slowly bringing them back to wrap around the cushion he had claimed for himself previously.

Once he was settled back into the couch, almost becoming one with it, Kyungsoo flashed a quick smile before the TA strode towards the kitchen.

… Baekhyun _did_ see the faint hint of amused slyness laced on Kyungsoo’s lips though, so like, _what an ass_.

  
  


“... You know,” the professor mumbled, breaking the silence which had enveloped the four remaining people in the living room, “if you need to hold someone,” he paused, gaze breaking from the movie playing to lock with Baekhyun’s wide-eyed one, “... you can hold onto me.”

…

…

…

Pure, pin-drop _silence_.

  
  


“... I’m sorry,” Baekhyun breathed, eyes widening even more, but more so in disbelief now than panic, “but _what_?”

However, even though the TA was very much expecting some sort of fumble or stumble, maybe a breaking of their gaze and fiddling of thumbs, this was _Professor Park_ , the man who, based on past experience, oozed _nothing_ but pure, unadulterated _smoothness_.

Which was why the professor hadn’t so much as batted an eyelash as he scooted back up the couch, forearms flexing as he pushed his hips back, now resting comfortably against the backrest. Once he got into position, his eyes flickered back onto the flabbergasted ones of the TA, and honestly, Baekhyun was being _so_ cute.

The professor simply laughed when he finally caught Baekhyun’s gaze and took in his expression, the sound reverberating throughout the living room, breaking the immensely thick silence. “Chill out Baek—”

— _Baek, he called me Baek?!_

“Sehun and Jongin have each other, so it’s only fair that you have someone too,” the professor continued on (which was complete _BS_ because Sehun and Jongin were _not_ cuddling in any way whatsoever). Baekhyun also noticed the confidence and _wait, is that determination?_ swimming about in his eyes growing with intensity the more he spoke, “and based on my observations, the only remaining person left for you to pair up with is _me_.”

Blinking blearily (because _damn_ , was Baekhyun stupefied), the TA could only manage to stare at the Professor, unmoving.

The professor had apparently taken notice of Baekhyun’s state of immobility (and probably also his state of _brain-not-processing-anything-right-now-ility_ ), and Chanyeol simply smiled as he reached out his arm, large hand clasping gently around Baekhyun’s skinny forearm, tugging the TA closer.

Baekhyun _clearly_ wasn’t expecting that, if the low yelp he received was of any indication. His entire body also came tumbling forward (even though the tug was pretty gentle), his torso laying flat on the couch. Unfortunately, Baekhyun’s face landed _right_ where Kyungsoo’s ass had been, and this had Baekhyun unconsciously scrunching up his nose because _ew_.

Quickly scrambling up from his position, Baekhyun once again met gazes with the Professor, who, based on the twinkle in his eyes, was apparently pretty much _dead-set_ on having Baekhyun… well, _hold_ onto him.

Swallowing, and keeping his gaze fixated on the Professor’s shoulder (because firstly, that’s apparently where he’ll be _leaning_ against, if the professor’s cajoling and shrugging of the shoulder were of any indication. Secondly, he can’t bear to look up and make eye contact with Professor because _excuse me…? We barely know each other but you want me to lean against you like how first-time girlfriends lean against their crushes in horror movies?_ And lastly, Baekhyun doesn’t _dare_ make any possible eye contact with Sehun or Jongin, because he doesn’t know what he’d do; either sock them in the face (then walk over to the kitchen to sock _Kyungsoo_ ) or, well, _thank_ them). Baekhyun contemplated his options; to either politely decline or to just suck it up and basically relive what was one of his fantasies.

If Baekhyun were to go with the first option, he _knew_ that either Sehun or Jongin would say something that would egg him on to ~~stuff their mouths with chips so that they’d shut up~~ go along with the professor’s suggestion, and that was something that Baekhyun didn’t want. He’d end up blushing even harder and solidifying their claim of how he was a teenage school chick in love with her professor, and if there was one thing that Baekhyun hated, it was proving the students _right._

But if he were to go with the second one, he’d basically end up on leaning on the professor’s shoulder right away. Both options seem to lead to the same outcome, just that one’s more direct (and less embarrassing) than the other…

(And also maybe Baekhyun actually _wants_ to take advantage of this perfectly-presented opportunity, feeling kinda ballsy. After all, it isn’t every day where your crush _literally_ asks you and offers his shoulder to lean on, right?)

… so it was with a single deep breath and a minute nod (along with a flaming red face) did Baekhyun finally accept the professor’s offer and shifted over to the other end of the couch.

However, even though Baekhyun had tried his hardest to keep his gaze down and fixated on nothing but the soft material of the couch, it did momentarily slip from his mind that _yes, Jongin and Sehun were leaning against the couch_ . So it was rather unfortunate, but not surprising, that he _did_ end up making eye contact with at least one of them. More specifically, Jongin.

Expecting to see mischief and anticipation in the younger’s eyes, Baekhyun was hence surprised when instead, he saw shock and a tiny hint of panic (very similar to the expression that Baekhyun himself was sporting second ago, if he were to say so himself).

Which had him confused, and thinking…

_… Did they not plan this?_

A shuffle on the opposite end of the couch however, interrupted his train of thought and brought the TA’s attention back to the Professor. Apparently Professor Park was just trying to get into a more comfortable position, and that position meant stretching the arm closest to Baekhyun across the top of the couch, his torso tilted a little to face Baekhyun.

It was honestly the picture perfect model for a _boyfriend-waiting-to-cuddle-his-partner_ position.

… _wow_.

Blush intensifying, almost wrecking havoc across his cheeks, Baekhyun quickly shook his head as he finally settled next to the Professor, although keeping a rather inconspicuous distance between the two because _yeah okay he offered but is it really acceptable for me to be practically snuggling up to him when w—_

A gentle tug on the forearm closest to the Professor broke Baekhyun from his internal argument, but was forceful enough to have the TA fall back into the broad chest splayed out behind him.

“... The good part’s just starting,” a soft murmur echoed about right beside Baekhyun’s ear, the chest acting as his support rumbling deeply, “so it’s best we get comfortable.”

Nodding meekly but keeping his mouth zipped shut (Baekhyun would _not_ like to risk the possibility of ever having his voice break, or _worse_ , squeak, in front of his crush thank you very much), Baekhyun flickered his gaze back up to the screen of the TV, pointedly ignoring the two students in front who were apparently sending panic signals or whatever through their gazes.

Instead, Baekhyun focused on trying to get a little bit more comfortable (as comfy as laying on the object-of-his-affection’s sturdy, firm-ass chest is) and tried his hardest to ignore the predicament he was currently in and focus on the movie instead.

 _Which shouldn’t be too hard_ , Baekhyun prays, _after all, Lee Joon Gi’s pretty distracting himself._

  
~~~~

* * *

 

 **Jongin:  
** _Im—_  
_BITCH  
WHAT IS HAPPENING_

 

 **Me:  
** _HOW THE FUCK AM I SUPPOSED TO KNOW_  
_THIS WASN’T PART OF THE PLAN_  
_THEY’RE SUPPOSED TO BE BAKING_  
_PLAYING WITH FLOUR_  
_GIVING KISSIES ON POWDERED NOSIES_

**Kyungsoo Hyung:  
** _Wait what?_  
_What’s going on?_  
_I’m coming over_

 

 **Me:  
** _NO_

 

 **Jongin:  
** _DONT_

 

 **Me:  
** _THEY’RE CUDDLING_

 

 **Jongin:  
** _THEY ARE SNUGGLING ON THE COUCH_

 

 **Kyungsoo Hyung:  
** _WHAT?  
_ _HOW?!_

 

 **Me:  
** _Dude idk mAN_

 

 **Jongin:  
** _PROF IS SMOOTH AS FUCK_  
_YO HE LIKE_  
_JUST  
WOW_

 

 **Me:  
** _Prof just basically said_  
_“If you need someone to hold, you can hold me.”_  
_And offered to cuddle with Baek Hyung_  
_And then he put his arm over the couch_  
_Practically inVITING BAEK HYUNG_  
_TO_  
_CUDDLE  
liKE ?????_

**Jongin:  
** _OMFG I KNOW_  
_LIKE_  
_WHO EVEN DOES THAT  
HOW IS HE SO SMOOTH ??????_

 

 **Kyungsoo Hyung:  
** _Don’t joke with me.  
_ _He did NOT do that._

 

 **Me:  
** _HE DID_  
_ISTG  
I’M JUST AS SHOOK_

 

 **Jongin:  
** _IM STILL HELLA SHOOK_

 

 **Kyungsoo Hyung:  
** _But what about Operation Cute Baking AU?!_  
_Do we still carry on?  
Or not? _

 

 **Me:  
** _Honestly_  
_I think we can scrap it_  
_Everything’s going better than expected_  
_Omg  
Wait_

 

 **Jongin:  
** _What_

 

 **Kyungsoo Hyung:  
** _What?_

 

 **Me:  
** _Hyung we’re coming over_

 

 **Kyungsoo Hyung:  
** _Absolutely not.  
_ _I will not let you make a mess of my kitchen_

 

 **Jongin:  
** _What the hell_  
_This is our house  
?!_

 

 **Kyungsoo Hyung:  
** _The house may be yours but the kitchen is MINE._

 

 **Jongin:  
** _THAT DOESNT MAKE SENSE_

 

 **Me:  
** _THAT DOESNT MATTER_  
_THE PLAN IS_  
_WE_  
_ARE ALL GONNA GO TO THE KITCHEN_  
_Hyung you can cook we’ll just spectate_  
_SO THAT PROF AND BAEK HYUNG_  
_WILL BE LEFT ALONE_  
_TO POSSIBLY SUCK FACE_  
_EVENTUALLY  
GOT IT?_

 

 **Jongin:  
** _Oh  
_ _Yeah sounds fantastic_

 

 **Kyungsoo Hyung:  
** _… okay._

  
  
  


**Kyungsoo Hyung:  
** _But try to be discreet._  
_Don’t ruin whatever romantic mood they have now.  
And knowing you two, you’d do JUST that. _

 

 **Me:  
** _Have more faith in us, would you?  
_ _We’ve come this far, we aren’t gonna stop_ now

 

 **Kyungsoo Hyung:  
** _Technically,_ Prof Park _got this far.  
_ _But whatever._

 

 **Me:  
** _…_

 

 **Jongin:  
** _youre 100% right Hyung but whatEVER_

 

* * *

 

“C’mon,” Sehun whispered, having tucked his phone away into his pocket as he got ready to stand, nudging Jongin in his ribs.

The other student gave a quick nod, muttering a low, “Got it, captain Oh,” as he too proceeded to stand.

Trying to be discreet, Sehun and Jongin slowly but steadily began to inch their way to the opposite side of the couch, away from the _blatantly_ cuddling pair.

…

“... Where are you two going.”

… But of _course_ Baekhyun had to be ruining their plans. Honestly, they’re doing this for _his_ greater good, doesn’t he wanna get some hot-Professor-who-has-his-life-together-and-is-also-smooth-and-sexy-as-fuck dick?

“... Kyungsoo Hyung needs help,” Jongin began, doing his best to not meet the deathly glare currently being directed at him from the TA, “sooooo we’re gonna go help him out.”

Baekhyun immediately narrowed his eyes, knowing that _that_ was probably a load of bull. After all, Kyungsoo was more than capable in whipping up dinners all by himself, their past few hang-outs speaking for themselves. Also, if Kyungsoo needed help in the _kitchen_ , Sehun and Jongin would be the _last_ people he’d ever seek help from.

Apparently Baekhyun’s glare, for some inexplicable but nonetheless much _appreciated_ reason, had a substantial effect on the two students, because it had caused the two of them to fidget a little in their positions as they slowly backed away from the two still on the couch. Sensing how the two were still pretty adamant on leaving, Baekhyun’s eyebrows dug deeper into the middle of his forehead, quickly wracking his brain for a means to get out of the highly likely left-alone-with-my-crush-whilst-watching-a-movie situation.

“I’m going wi—”

A series of “NO”s, “it’s okay hyung!”s and, to Baekhyun’s embarrassment (and the reason for the sudden spike of his heart rate), an arm wrapping around his own, practically holding him back from getting off the couch, summed up the reaction Baekhyun had received.

However, it wasn’t _just_ Baekhyun who noticed how the professor had just blatantly showed that he himself _didn’t_ want the TA to leave, more over leave his _current position_ . Both Sehun and Jongin had _definitely_ seen the way the professor’s arm had tightened a little around the length of Baekhyun’s own, if the way their eyes widened and how a tiny smirk crept up Sehun’s face were anything to go by.

Apparently, the professor himself had realised exactly what he had done, because he had let out an awkward cough, playing it off as if he was simply clearing his throat, before he slowly but steadily retracted his arm to place it back, flat, on the back of the couch.

~~Baekhyun had pouted a little, because he _did_ like the feeling of having the professor’s strong arm and hand wrapped around his own, however brief it was, but he’d be caught _dead_ admitting it. ~~

Quickly shaking his head, Baekhyun rid his mind of any lingering thoughts of how-nice-being-held-back-against-a-chest felt, and diverted his attention to the two students…

… who were already making their way past the couch.

“Why would Kyungsoo ask the two of y—”

“Hey,” the arm resting on the back of the couch was back on Baekhyun’s arm, crooking at the elbow as it rested slightly onto the TA’s shoulder, “have more faith in them, would you?” the statement ended off with a laugh, one that was almost _too_ close to Baekhyun’s ear, and the TA couldn’t help but inwardly squeal at how gritty the laugh was.

“I’m sure they aren’t as hopeless in the kitchen as you think they are,” he completed, and Baekhyun could sense the smile in his tone.

 _God_ , Park Chanyeol was just… _perfect_.

From his tall, built, and broad stature (the man was literally 186cm tall with probably 50cm wide shoulders, limbs lined and encased in thick, gorgeously-developed muscles. He was _cuh-learly_ a _daddy_ ), to his perfect face (round, wide almond eyes that never failed to act as windows to the professor’s soul; always bright, always, _always_ expressive, down to his sharp, perfectly sculpted nose, and to his full lips and prominent, perfectly carved jawline, and Baekhyun’s favourite, his prominent but _cute_ ears).

Park Chanyeol was the picture-perfect definition of a Boyfriend™, and when you add on his personality…

Baekhyun couldn’t help but mentally pat himself on the back because _damn, do I have taste!_

Over the course of the few weeks, Baekhyun had managed to catch glimpses of the professor here and there; as they were switching classes, eating at the cafeteria, or just walking along campus. He was a spectator to how the professor had seemingly brought along happiness with him everywhere he went. He was always seen talking to someone, be it a fellow professor, a student, or someone who works on the Hanyang University campus.

Always smiling. Always friendly. Always kind and caring.

… Always _perfect_.

Suddenly overwhelmed with the feelings rippling about his chest for the man behind him, Baekhyun couldn’t help the gasp that had escaped his lips as he was unexpectedly hit with the full _weight_ of his emotions. Baekhyun _knew_ that he had it deep, but he didn’t know exactly how deep his feelings had ran.

And now, faced with how far along his feelings were, to the point where he honestly couldn’t see where they were leading to or whether they were ever going to end, Baekhyun felt his heart skip a beat.

He knew that Park Chanyeol was almost _too good to be true_ , and knows that if he had wanted to save himself, he should have done it a long time ago.

… Because if the professor, God forbid, _doesn’t_ reciprocate his feelings, Baekhyun knows that it’ll be really difficult to swim back up to the surface.

He’d drown.

  
  


Flashes of their previous encounters flooded his mind, sprinting towards the forefront of his brain and Baekhyun only watched, still and in shock, at the horde of memories playing about not unlike a cinematic tape.

_That time at Professor Kim’s auditorium..._

_The wink in the lecture hall…_

_“You’re really cute, you know that?”_

_And that time at Starbucks…_

_“... Because I might not be here to catch you next time.”_

…

… Baekhyun… isn’t the _only_ one feeling _something_ for the other… right?

  
  


“...—hyun?” A large, warm hand encasing his jaw, gently pulling his face up to the meet the one of the professor pulled Baekhyun out of his internal, panicky debate.

Being face to face with the perfection that was Professor Park Chanyeol, Baekhyun was drawn back into his earlier thoughts of how gorgeous the professor really was.

_… I like you so much._

The sudden, deep chuckle that reverberated about the air around the two nestled on the couch was one that Baekhyun did not expect, and as he gazed back up at the twinkling, scrunched up almond eyes belonging to none other than the professor, Baekhyun realised that he had actually said that thought out loud.

That he had actually confessed.

With panic now bubbling through his veins at record speed, Baekhyun quickly tried to scramble back, backing away from the professor and to get to the other end of the couch. He couldn’t explain the sudden rush of pure devastation and humiliation that he felt running through his limbs, wrapping around his heart and choking his lungs, and Baekhyun hadn’t realised but his limbs had also started to tremble, to purely just _shake_ in… in…

_Fear. Humiliation. Rejection._

However, before Baekhyun could even so much as back away a single _inch_ , the professor had his arms wrapped tight around the frame of the TA, seemingly startled and shocked by the TA’s sudden change in demeanour.

“Hey, hey,” the professor breathed, right against the bright red ear of the TA, strong arms enveloping the tiny, shaking frame of Baekhyun as he rubbed large but gentle, soothing circles along his back, “calm down, alright? Breathe with me.”

At that, the professor slowly but steadily guided the still trembling Baekhyun into a series of long, large breaths, wanting to calm the wrecked TA down enough for him them to talk. It did not take them too long, but the professor did not let up the soothing circles rubbed on the TA’s back even though he felt him calming down in his arms, limbs stilling and breath evening out.

It was only when Chanyeol felt that Baekhyun had calmed down _completely_ , breath completely evened out and limbs going slack, all tension lost, did he pull back from their embrace.

… Only to be faced with a teary Baekhyun.

“Hey, why are you crying?” the professor asked, voice barely audible, as he proceeded to thumb at the corners of his eyes  and apples of the TA’s cheeks in an effort to soothe him. His palms encased the sides of Baekhyun’s face as he continued to gaze into his eyes, something which the TA probably found too much to bear as his eyelid shuttered close, nose scrunching up and lips beginning to tremble as the TA’s hands came up to wrap around the thick wrists of the professor.

“I—,” Baekhyun started, a starting sob caught in his throat choking him, and Baekhyun bit his trembling lips in an effort to not let it escape. “I wasn’t supposed to say that,” he whispered, the tears breaking through the dam, one constructed on Baekhyun’s pride and his remaining shreds of dignity, slipping past his eyelids. However, the tears did not track far for large thumbs had immediately came up to gently wipe them away.

“... Why were you not supposed to say that?” the professor asked, the hurt that he had tried to hide upon hearing Baekhyun’s answer seeping through, even though he had tried to keep it in.

Apparently that question was the only thing that Baekhyun needed to break all restraints, because the sob had finally broke through his throat, spilling through his trembling lips as more tears made their way down his cheeks.

“Because—because,” Baekhyun breathed, taking in a deep, shuddering breath as he tried his hardest to calm down, silently thanking the professor for starting up the circular rubs on his back once more, “you’re going to reject me.”

The professor had immediately wanted to rebuke, wanting to convince Baekhyun that _no_ , he was absolutely _not_ going to reject him, because that was all that he had been waiting for since the time he landed his eyes on the tiny TA.

But Baekhyun had interrupted him before he could say any of that.

“ _... And I don’t want to be rejected again._ ”

It was said _so_ quietly, almost as if Baekhyun had not wanted Chanyeol to hear, but due to their position, with how close they were sitting, with how near they were to each others’ faces, Chanyeol heard it.

Alongside the hidden and completely _raw_ emotions of unspoken _pain_ , and _previous heartbreak_.

… Chanyeol’s heart _clenched_.

  
  


“... Baek?” the professor called, breaking the silence that had overtaken the two of them after Baekhyun’s last sentence. The TA had calmed down considerably, the professor noting that he could not hear any more sniffles or sobs escaping the man in his arms.

Cupping the soft, round cheeks in his palms once more, Chanyeol gently lifted up the TA’s face, enough for him to be able to see the TA in his entirety.

… And even though he had just been crying, sobbing so hard to the point where his eyes and nose were spotted bright red, with tear tracks (the ones that the professor had, unfortunately, missed, because there were _so_ many) stained on his cheeks, Byun Baekhyun was still _beautiful_.

“... Who said that I’d reject you?”

The soft smile gracing the full lips of the professor, alongside the glint of happiness and adoration in his eyes, these were things that Baekhyun did _not_ expect to receive upon his slipped confession.

“... What?” he questioned, the confusion and shock evident in his tone of voice.

The professor, upon hearing the meekly asked question, simply laughed, the cuteness of the TA sparking up a wave of emotions in his chest, to the point where he almost felt like he was going to explode with how rapidly they were blooming in his chest.

“I like you _so much_ too, Baek,” Chanyeol murmured, his own large hands clasping against Baekhyun’s own smaller ones, fingers intertwining with the TA’s as he brought them in between their chests. Leaning down, his face getting closer to Baekhyun’s, the professor couldn’t help but notice the blush slowly but steadily creeping up the TA’s neck, jaw, and eventually, his cheeks, but chose to ignore it for now.

After all, Chanyeol’s heart is also too busy pumping even _more_ affection for the TA throughout his veins, after having caught sight of the blush staining Baekhyun’s face.

Smiling, and still getting closer, Chanyeol only smiled as his lips finally ghosted over Baekhyun’s, his eyes flickering up from the TA’s smooth, bright pink pair to his eyes.

They were focused on his own lips, and were at _half-mast_.

“... I’ll take care of you,” Chanyeol whispered, “and I won’t hurt you, I’ll promise you that.”

His words were enough to bring out a quiet giggle from the TA, and Chanyeol could hear the relief and pure, unrestrained happiness lacing itself in between the notes of laughter.

“... I’ll hold you to that, _Yeol_.”

Breathing out his own laugh, Chanyeol finally closed his eyes, leaning in to close the miniscule distance between their lips, _fina_ —

“SEHUN OPEN UP THE FUCK UP. I AM NOT ALLOWING MY BABY TO DATE THAT GIANT FREAK.”

A collective “FUCK!” alongside groans of “ _What the fuck is he doing here?!_ ”, which were full of nothing but utter, and sheer despair rang about the apartment.

Of course, both Chanyeol and Baekhyun had gotten startled, blush flaring up across their cheeks as the realisation that the other three persons had quite possibly been watching them. Moreover, that Professor _Kim Jongdae_ was somehow, _possibly_ , one way or another, in on… whatever plan it was.

“SEHUN I SWEAR TO G—”

“WHAT!” Sehun yelled, having swiftly strode over to the door as soon as the yells and knocks began thundering through the apartment. “YOU RUINED IT!”

Stupfounded, Jongdae only stared wide-eyed at the fuming student, watching how he had his arms folded tightly across his chest and his feet tapping incessantly against the smooth marble of the floor. Jongdae swivelled his eyes around the apartment, and noticed the _equally_ as fuming Jongin marching his way over to the door, hands balled into fists at his side.

“YOU BLEW IT!” the student yelled, fists unclenching as he ran his tightly-wrung fingers through his mop of hair, “they were about to fucking _kiss_!”

At that, Jongdae was immediately reminded of the reason he had come stomping up into the student dorms for. Plucking out the piece of paper that had been stuffed into his pocket, Jongdae hurriedly shoved it into Sehun’s chest as he pushed his way through the _evil_ students, looking for one person and _one person_ only.

“Baekhyun!” Jongdae shouted, having spotted the brown mop of hair poking out from the couch and quickly making his way over to his TA. However, the Professor _probably_ did not notice that his TA had, _apparently_ , been all up in the arms of the _other_ professor.

Finally taking in the position which the two were in, Jongdae’s eyes instantly narrowed, lips pursed into a displeased pout as he proceeded to yank the still shell-shocked TA up and away from the other person.

“Baekhyun, sweetie,” Jongdae began, voice dropping down to a murmur as he checked all over the TA, looking for any possible bruise or cut along his limbs, “are you okay? Did that _ugly_ man do anything to you?” the professor asked, voice pitching a note higher at the end, almost as if he was talking to a child.

Baekhyun, whose face was _still_ burning a bright red, had yet to wrap his head around the current situation.

“ _No_ , I absolutely _did not_ do anything to him,” Chanyeol’s voice answered instead, hints of frustration and disbelief underlying his tone, “because you fucking _interrupted_ me!”

By now, everyone had gathered about the living room, both professors having stood up, having an impromptu glaring competition as Baekhyun stood in the middle, still extremely confused, if the vacant expression on his face was anything to go by. Sehun and Jongin had also made their way over form the doorway, still heavily fuming as they both glared at Professor Kim (who was, apparently, unaffected at all, how _unbelievable_ ).

Which was why Kyungsoo, who was also still extremely furious at the sudden, and _completely uncalled for_ interruption by the tinier professor ( _he was recording the to-be couple’s entire interaction, but he missed the kiss, God damn it!_ ), took it upon himself to pluck the blank Baekhyun away from Professor Kim’s hands and guided him down onto the couch, before giving him a cup of water to drink.

Kyungsoo’s actions didn’t go unnoticed by Professor Kim, though, and it was not long before Jongdae had his glare focused on the pair of TAs perched on the couch.

“ _You_ !” Jongdae exclaimed, pointing a finger at Kyungsoo (who only rolled his eyes back at him, honestly how _r0od_ ), “how could you let our Baekkie fall into the hands of this mutant half deformed _giraffe_ over here?!” At that, Jongdae made wild hand gestures to the taller professor, face morphed into an expression of betrayal.

Jongdae only received a round of scoffs from the others present in the room, before Chanyeol decided to speak up.

“ _My_ Baekkie has fallen into the _perfect_ hands, you asswipe!” The professor growled, striding over to the other side of the couch where the two TAs were seated. As soon as Chanyeol was in front of Baekhyun, who still had the glass of water in his hands, Chanyeol gently crouched down, and slowly plucked the glass out of Baekhyun’s two-hand clasp.

… Baekhyun was still pretty muddled, and Chanyeol, in hopes of having Baekhyun coherent, and basically functioning enough to process his next few words, knew that sudden, abrupt movements would do the complete _opposite_ , hence why is sudden gentleness and slow speed.

Taking a hold of the TA’s now empty hands, clasping them around one of his own, Chanyeol brought his other hand up to cup Baekhyun’s cheek.

“... I am going to say something, after which I will immediately kiss you,” Chanyeol whispered, loud enough such that only the two of them could hear, “is that okay?”

Baekhyun’s receding blush immediately intensified, racing back to stain his cheeks the brightest shade of red ever, as he gave a meek nod.

Smiling slightly, Chanyeol gave a gentle squeeze to the hands clasping around his own, before quickly turning to face the others.

He was met with two _very_ expectant gazes, two furious, and another slightly amused, but _just_ as expectant one. Smirking, Chanyeol finally exclaimed, “... And I will do absolutely _anything_ I want with him, regardless of _whatever_ you fucking say.”

Immediately, Chanyeol turned back around to face Baekhyun’s own expectant stare, the blush ever so prominent, and ever so adorable on his round cheeks. Cupping his cheek and tilting his head a little, Chanyeol gave one last squeeze to Baekhyun’s hands as he dove in, _finally_ pressing his lips against the gorgeously pink, lusciously soft ones of the stunning TA.

The hoots, whoops, and hollers, along with the loud, angry yell of “Hey!” went completely ignored, fading into white noise as the two focused solely on the other, on the press of their lips, of the comforting warmth and pure affection radiating from the other.

They have never felt so _full_.

By this time, Baekhyun had unwrapped his hands from Chanyeol’s own, dainty hands migrating to interlock on the nape of the professor’s neck instead, whilst Chanyeol’s now freely-hanging one proceeded to trail up Baekhyun’s thigh and hip, before resting on his waist.

Pulling back, Baekhyun let out a small, delighted giggle at how Chanyeol had seemingly chased after his lips, and quickly chose to indulge him by placing one last peck on the awaiting ones of the professor.

“... That was cute,” the TA grinned, his happiness evident in his tone as he played with the hairs on Chanyeol’s nape.

Chuckling, Chanyeol squeezed Baekhyun’s waist as he laughed.

“In _my_ opinion,” he continued, face leaning towards Baekhyun once more, and Chanyeol couldn’t help the sudden burst of affection spreading about his chest as he noticed Baekhyun leaning in too, “... _you’re_ cuter,” before he pressed one more kiss on the TA’s waiting lips.

  
  


“... Should we interrupt them?”

“... Nah, let them be, it’s been a long time coming anyway, they deserve this, like, _moment of reprieve_ or whatever.”

“Tr—”

“STOP SUCKING MY BABY’S FACE, PARK CHANYEOL.”

 

* * *

 

“Wait,” Kyungsoo paused, gathering the attention of everyone in the living room once more. Thankfully, the new and _now_ couple heard Jongdae’s cry, and had immediately pulled away.

Baekhyun was more than embarrassed at having someone literally yell at his boyfriend ( _boyfriend!!!_ ) to stop kissing him, and the blush that had wreaked havoc across his face was more than telling. Chanyeol, on the other hand, was simply annoyed at Jongdae interrupting him _yet again_ , and had actually proceeded to grab the glass of water (with the intention to throw it at Jongdae). But _thank God_ for Baekhyun, who, despite his embarrassment (courtesy of Jongdae) and shock (courtesy of Chanyeol _now_ ), had swiftly took the glass away from Chanyeol’s hands, tucking it close to himself, not allowing Chanyeol to grab it anymore.

No more objects were thrown (or were grabbed with the intention to be thrown), and all six of them quickly settled down on the couch.

“How did you even _know_ about this?” Kyungsoo asked, gesturing to Professor Park and Baekhyun (who were now ~~cuddled up~~ _sitting_ next to each other), pointedly looking at Jongdae.

“Urgh,” Sehun groaned, the same time Jongdae gesticulated widely to the two students in the room.

Jongdae reached across the couch towards Sehun, and quickly plucked the scrunched up paper that was tightly fisted in the student’s hands. “This _dumbass_ left _this_ ,” Jongdae explained, waving the crumpled paper up in the air for everyone to see, “in the auditorium.”

Immediately Kyungsoo’s eyes widened, and he directed a substantially intimidating glare at Sehun the same time Jongin whines out at the other student.

Knowing that something was _definitely_ up, Chanyeol leaned across the couch and quickly snatched up the paper from Jongdae’s grip.

…

…

…

“Operation Get Byun Baekhyun Laid By Prof. Park Chanyeol?”

  
  


_Baekhyun is_ soooooooo _gonna fucking murder the three of them._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They FINALLY get together oml damn did it take long. But anyway, PCY is hella smooth and BBY is just super cute and precious. Also I love Jongdae <3 
> 
> Anyway, now that they're finally together, Operation GBBLBPPC is officially complete! 
> 
> ... Or is it...? Stay tuned for the epilogue! :)
> 
> But all jokes aside, thank you so much for reading this! I've grown pretty attached to the story and the characters, and their dynamics! But this of course won't be the last one where we'll see them like this, because I'll definitely be writing more! Anyway, if you guys have any constructive criticism to give, please do so in the comments below! I'd love to hear from you guys how I can improve, or if you guys have any thoughts you wanna share regarding the story! :)
> 
> Thank you once again! :)


	5. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little something to wrap up Computers, Conspiring Idiots, and... Crushes?

Baekhyun gave a final bow to the students, standing right beside a just-as-deeply bowing Professor Zhang. It was nearing the end of the semester, and as such, this also meant conducting the last few lectures with his students. It had been a couple of months into the year already, but Baekhyun personally felt that it had all flew by  _ much _ too quickly, having barely been able to grasp the time in between his fingers. 

Of course, this wasn’t going to be the last time he was going to be teaching the same group of students, and neither was it going to be the last time he was going to be Professor Zhang’s TA. After all, he still had a class with both the same group of students and Professor Zhang  _ next  _ semester; Computer Music 2, that is. 

But it was still emotional all the same, what with it being Baekhyun’s first ever TA experience, and first batch of students, and first professor, which was why the sudden mistying of his eyes was not exactly surprising.

Hearing an echo of their proudly announced “Thank you,” Baekhyun tried to bite down the grin threatening to stretch across his lips because  _ his kids were so adorable _ ! However, quickly realising that he had nothing left to lose, Baekhyun let the grin blossom across his face, unrestrained.

Catching Professor Zhang come back up from his bow, Baekhyun soon followed, and they were both greeted by the backs and the top of their students head; the kids having bowed to them as well. Laughing, Baekhyun brought his hands up to give them a round of applause as soon as majority of them had stood back up to their full height again. His applause caused somewhat of a domino effect, and it wasn’t long before the entire theatre was also clapping along, Baekhyun hearing a few whoops and cheers, and spotting a few students hugging each other.

It was pretty tear-jerking, and Baekhyun immediately brought his fingers up to his eyes, hoping to be discreet enough in his wiping away of his tears.

_ That _ , however, completely backfired, and all thanks to a certain Oh Sehun.

“Don’t cry Baekhyun hyung!” the student had shouted all the way from the back of the hall, hands cupped around his lips as a glint of mischief and amusement twinkled in his eyes. “You’ll still see us next semester!”

At that, Baekhyun quickly brought his hands down from his eyes, but still raised one in a fist in Sehun’s direction, almost threateningly so as he yelled back a sharp “I was  _ not _ crying, Sehun!”

Baekhyun’s indignant respond only resulted in a series of laughter from his students, and even a light chuckle from the teary-eyed Professor Zhang as well. 

“Hey,” the professor called, wrapping an arm around Baekhyun’s shoulder as he pulled the TA closer to his body, ruffling his hair fondly. “No more bullying your TA, alright? At least for the summer!”

Another round of light laughter was heard, which only intensified with Sehun’s reply of “That’s if he can live without me then!”

At that, Professor Zhang only smirked, a hint of deviousness lining the corners of his lips as he looked down to face the embarrassed, but happy TA. “I’m sure he would,” the professor began, gaining all of his students’ eyes on him again, “after all, he has Professor Park now, doesn’t he?”

Immediately, loud teases erupted from the students within the lecture hall as Professor Zhang gently shook a heavily blushing Byun Baekhyun. Honestly,  _ is anyone ever gonna live it down _ ?

Ears burning a bright red, now no longer from embarrassment but pure shyness, Baekhyun quickly brought his hands up to cover his burning red face from the eyes of his students. This, however, only prompted more teases to be aimed his way, to which Professor Zhang gently laughed before coaxing his students to quiet down and let their TA live. 

It had honestly surprised Baekhyun how well-receiving to the news, of him dating Professor Park, his students were. He had initially expected their relationship to be strictly kept in the shadows and away from the eyes of anyone associated to Hanyang, having thought that the University’s Board forbade professors and TAs from ever getting into relationships with one another.

Which was why he was pleasantly surprised (and even slightly put out) when, as soon as he had voiced this out to Chanyeol, the professor had simply laughed at him, pinching his cheeks as he rattled on about how cute his boyfriend was.

“Baby,” the professor had began (and the nickname had caused a faint dusting of a blush to appear on the TA’s cheeks), “there’s no such rule in Hanyang about professors and TAs not being allowed to date.” Chanyeol had gently tugged Baekhyun closer, pulling the TA against his chest such that the younger was straddling his lap.

“... Which is fortunate for me, and you know why?” Chanyeol had asked, tucking a brown lock of hair behind Baekhyun’s ear as the TA continued to blush. Baekhyun only cocked his head to the side in response to Chanyeol’s question, coaxing him to continue. “Well,” the professor had laughed, dragging his hand from Baekhyun’s ear down to caress his side, before stopping and squeezing his waist, “that means that I get to show everyone just  _ who _ you belong to.” 

Instantly, Chanyeol was welcomed with a wildly  blushing Baekhyun as the TA dove down to bury his face in his chest, nimble fingers coming up to pinch the skin on the professor’s bicep as he complained about how cheesy he was being.

Chanyeol had winced slightly due to the pain, but that was soon at the back of his mind, his attention focused solely on the adorable man currently trying to hide from the world in his chest. 

“You love me being cheesy, anyway,” the professor murmured, the confidence with which he had said the statement audible in his tone. 

To which Baekhyun had only relented, because, after all, the statement  _ was _ true anyway.

Now back at Hanyang, almost everyone within the Faculty of Music knew about their relationship, from students all the way to certain members of the Board. It did not change nor affect their relationship in any way, seeing as how the most they got about anything relating to their “taken” statuses was nothing more than a few teases from the students and knowing smiles from the other professors.

_ … But damn, could they be too much to handle sometimes. _

“... Stop thinking about your boyfriend, hyung!” Sehun’s  _ annoying _ voice broke through Baekhyun’s reverie, and that immediately had the tiny TA’s brows furrow in anger, lips curling up into a snarl as he jolted out from Professor Zhang’s hold and ran up the stairs, aiming for none other than Sehun.

Sehun, catching sight of the quickly approaching TA, had swiftly started to squeeze through the gaps of his other classmates, wanting to escape from the furious Baekhyun. 

The class only continued to laugh, as did Professor Zhang, but knowing that it was almost time for the next class to begin, the professor quickly cleared his throat. After successfully managing to garner the attention of everyone else in the hall (including that of a terrified Sehun and a ferocious Baekhyun), Professor Zhang smiled as he asked for everyone to calm down, eyeing two certain people specifically.

Bowing their head in embarrassment, both Sehun and Baekhyun quickly strode over to their respective positions, earning a few snickers and chuckles along the way. 

“Anyway,” Professor Zhang began again, once everyone was in their rightful positions, “thank you all once again, and we’ll see you next semester. Until then, enjoy your summer!” A round of applause followed his statement, before the students were walking over to the doors, waving and bowing to the professor and TA as they did so.

Once a certain number of students left, Baekhyun turned to face Yixing, gently saying his thanks as he bowed once again. Professor Zhang only chuckled, coaxing Baekhyun to stand back up to full height.

“It’s nothing, Baekhyun,” Yixing began, rubbing soothing circles on Baekhyun’s shoulder as soon as he noticed the TA’s eyes getting misty, “I’d also like to thank y—”

“Hyung!” 

Both Professor and TA immediately turned their heads towards the source, shock printed all over the lines of their faces. However, after realising exactly who it was from, their shocked expressions quickly melted away to be replaced by those of affection, although in different levels.

Chanyeol had entered the lecture hall as soon as he had seen students trickling out of it, and after his exuberant entrance, was welcomed with fond smiles and soft gazes. Letting a soft smile take over his own features, Chanyeol stretched out his arms as he made his way over to the two persons standing in the middle of the auditorium.

“Hey,” Professor Zhang greeted, his own arms coming up to wrap around the other man. The hold that they had on each other was tight, and as one got tighter, the other did too. It wasn’t long before the two professors stared some sort of a hugging match, and it wasn’t surprising when Yixing had quickly tapped out. 

Chanyeol could be an aggressive hugger sometimes (Baekhyun knows, trust me, he has experience), and when fuelled with his affection for whoever was in his arms, well… 

… Those hugs could only last for so long.

However, Chanyeol didn’t take it to heart, as he simply let out a laugh as he released his friend. 

“... I’m gonna miss you, hyung,” Chanyeol murmured, eyes misting over. To the professor’s surprise, however, his reaction only spurred out an eye roll from Yixing.

“Oh, my God, you two are the same,” Yixing started through a huff of disbelief, “you guys are so emotional.” At that, the couple let out similar chuckles, fingers coming up to wipe their own eyes as they stared back, embarrassed, at Yixing.

“And what the hell,” the professor exclaimed, “I’m literally only going back to Changsha for a month, after that I’ll be back. You make it sound like as though I’m flying off to Canada forever or something.”

Yixing’s words had managed to pull out a harder fit of laughter from the couple, but Yixing could still see the faint swirls of sadness swimming about in Chanyeol’s eyes. Slowly approaching the other, Yixing let a fond smile quirk up the corners of his lips as he pulled the taller Professor in for another hug, this time patting his back lightly. 

“... I’ll miss you too, Chanyeol, but I’ll be back before you know it,” Yixing consoled, “but anyway, I think it’s time for you to comfort your  _ baby _ . He cried like one earlier.”

An indignant “Hey!” rang about the walls of the lecture hall, alongside the laughs from the two professors. 

Slowly releasing Yixing from his hold, Chanyeol turned around to face the TA (his boyfriend, his  _ baby _ ), and hadn’t realised how his entire face had melted and softened as soon as his eyes had landed on Baekhyun. 

“... Hey baby,” Chanyeol called out, arms stretching to embrace the TA around his waist, pulling him closer to his chest, “you’ve been crying?”

Wrapping his own arms around Chanyeol’s neck whilst at the same time feeling little tendrils of heat creep up on his cheeks, Baekhyun subtly tried to hide his face in his boyfriend’s chest as he denied the statement. “Something got into my eyes, that’s all.” 

Chanyeol’s laugh reverberated through his chest, and Baekhyun found the rumble of it therapeutic as he closed his eyes, pressing his head a little more against the professor’s chest. 

“You’re so adorable,” Chanyeol began, smiling at the almost inaudible whine Baekhyun had let escape when he started to pull away. Bringing one of his hands up to hook under Baekhyun’s chin, Chanyeol brought the TA’s face up, allowing him to see Baekhyun in his entirety.

Noticing the slight redness around his eyes, Chanyeol quickly brought both his hands up to start smoothing circles against the corners of Baekhyun’s eyes, even sliding down a little to do the same to the apples of his cheeks. 

“You’re so emotional,” Chanyeol teased, grin now bearing traces of amusement. Immediately he was responded with a furrowing of brows and pouting of lips, as Baekhyun muttered about how Chanyeol was the same and how much of a hypocrite he was being right then.

“You see,” the professor began, grin softening into a small smile, “this is why we’re perfect together,” before he closed the distance between their lips. 

  
  
  


 

“Urgh, get a room!”

“Oh Sehun  _ I swear to God— _ ”

 

* * *

 

“Love,” Baekhyun called, hands reaching to wrap around the thicker fingers of his boyfriend as Chanyeol reached out to him. Chanyeol was currently seated on the couch in his apartment, gaze focused on his phone in his hands. 

“Guess what I found,” Baekhyun murmured, legs proceeding to straddle Chanyeol’s own widely spread ones. Chanyeol only hummed, gaze still fixated on his phone as he unconsciously reached behind Baekhyun, gently pushing against the small of his back to bring the TA closer to a more comfortable and safer position, against his chest.

“What’dja find?” Chanyeol asked, humouring Baekhyun. The TA, unfortunately, didn’t find it funny, if the sudden frown and pout forming on his face were anything to go by. Upset at how his boyfriend had his gaze focused  _ solely _ on his phone (what the hell was on there that was more interesting than cute Baekhyun, huh?), Baekhyun reached up to Chanyeol’s ear and gave it a tug.

“Pay attention to  _ meeeeee _ ,” Baekhyun whined, fingers still pulling on the cute ears of his boyfriend. He didn’t stop until he managed to pull out a wince from the taller, and until Chanyeol had his eyes on the smaller.

“Ok—Okay, okay,” Chanyeol cried, eyes scrunching up at the sheer force Baekhyun was using to yank on his (poor) ear, “you can let go now.” 

Giggling, Baekhyun quickly released Chanyeol’s ear, fingers now smoothing over the red skin. His apologies were well-conveyed through that one action, as well as the slight drooping of his eyes and the corners of his lips, so Chanyeol didn’t bother asking for more.

“... My love’s so demanding today, huh,” Chanyeol whispered, hands coming up to rest against the side of Baekhyun’s waist and the small of his back respectively. “What’s up?” Chanyeol finished, hands now dragging against the cotton of the smaller’s shirt towards the back, fingers interlocking and resting there.

Baekhyun’s eyes immediately lit up in disbelief and exasperation, shaking his head lightly as he drew out the paper clenched in his other hand. As soon as the paper was smoothened enough, Baekhyun thrust it into Chanyeol’s chest, a huff of frustration leaving his lips as he did so.

Slowly (because he was reluctant to move his hands from their current position), Chanyeol reached out for the paper, eyes sweeping over the messy scrawls. 

“... Operation Get Byun Baekhyun Laid By Prof. Park Chanyeol?” Chanyeol read, confused eyes glancing back up to his seemingly frustrated boyfriend, “but babe, didn’t we see this already?” 

“ _ No _ —I mean,  _ technically _ , but,” at this, Baekhyun nudged Chanyeol’s fingers away, his own coming up to point at the notes under the main title, “look here, “ _ Phase 3: Operation Cute But Sexy Maid AU _ ”!” 

Eyes widening in slight shock (because Chanyeol honestly wasn’t  _ really  _ surprised, seeing as this could only be Sehun and Jongin’s work), Chanyeol quickly proceeded to read the rest of the paper’s contents, which were… * _ cough _ *  _ extremely detailed _ .

… And honestly, Chanyeol can’t say that he  _ didn’t _ like it, because he definitely did. But tell  _ that _ to Baekhyun and he  _ knows _ he’s gonna get his dick cut off.

Coughing lightly, Chanyeol’s brows furrowed as his lips pursed into a thin line, his uncertainty as to which emotion to display apparent. 

“... Uh, wow,” Chanyeol awkwardly laughed, “they really aren’t stopping, huh?” Deciding to go with the safest route (aka, take on the same feelings as Baekhyun in this situation), Chanyeol glanced back up at his boyfriend, noticing the faint hue of red staining his cheeks. 

Although this time, Chanyeol wasn’t too sure whether it was from frustration or, the usual embarrassment and shyness. 

“They aren’t!” Baekhyun exclaimed, hands gesticulating wildly as he released yet another huff (Chanyeol quickly realised that the blush staining his love’s cheeks was from frustration,  _ definitely  _ frustration). “Why can’t they leave my sex life alone, it’s not even any of their business!” 

Internally chuckling (because an angry Baekhyun is a cute Baekhyun), Chanyeol leant forward to press a small peck against the deliciously pouty lips of his boyfriend. With one hand squeezing his waist, Chanyeol dragged his lips over the soft skin of the smaller man, leaving a trail of kisses all over his jaw and neck. 

“... But they’re actually being really thoughtful, you know,” Chanyeol murmured, and noting how Baekhyun had immediately tensed at his comment (probably because he wanted to smack Chanyeol for even thinking that). The taller quickly explained himself as he placated the smaller with more kisses. “... They  _ want _ you to get laid, babe, they’re actively trying to get you a sex life. If that’s not friends for life, I don’t know what is.” 

… Baekhyun  _ soooo _ wanted to smack Chanyeol for that, but seeing as how the older man had already started sucking hickies into his erogenous spots, Baekhyun had far turned to putty. 

_ Fuck Chanyeol for knowing his body so damn well _ .

“... And besides, you’d look hella cute  _ and _ sexy in a maid’s dress.” 

Immediately reeling back, Baekhyun’s pleasured expression quickly morphed into one of disbelief and anger, fists raised to land against punches on the firm chest. However, his boyfriend had been well-acquainted with his reactions and hits, having immediately locked both of Baekhyun’s wrists in one hand as the other latched onto the smaller’s hip, drawing soothing circles on the skin there. 

“I can’t believe y—”

“Baby,” immediately silencing Baekhyun (because Chanyeol  _ knew  _ that  _ that _ was Baekhyun’s favourite pet name), Chanyeol slowly but firmly started placing small pecks and kisses all over the skin he could reach, in an effort to placate the fuming younger. 

“... You want them to stop, right?” At this, Chanyeol pulled back and watched as Baekhyun gave a hesitant nod, although he did have to wait a while for it. 

“Well,” Chanyeol began, resuming the kisses and pecks, as well as the thumb soothing circles on his boyfriend’s hip, because he  _ knows _ that Baekhyun probably isn’t going to like what he’s going to say, “the only way that we can make them stop is by, well,  _ actually _ going along with it.” 

  
  


 

“Park Chanyeol if you are insinuating that I have to dress up as some kinky twinky maid I am going to cas—”

“Babe no,” Chanyeol immediately intervened, the slight boner he had quickly deflating at the promising threat, “we don’t  _ have _ to do a maid role play.”

Baekhyun’s brows immediately scrunched up into a confused frown. “Then do we do it like we always do?” 

Laughing, Chanyeol shook his head, “that wouldn’t be fun now, would it?” he rebuked, “besides, it would totally go  _ not _ according to plan. The least we should do is…  _ keep the main plot _ .”

“Wait,” Baekhyun paused, surprise swirling about in his eyes, “... are you telling me you want to role play?” 

Nodding, Chanyeol only smirked, leaning forward once more, towards his boyfriend as he released Baekhyun’s wrists. Letting his lips trail all over the smaller’s neck, and his hands all over his waist, hips, and thighs, Chanyeol lowly muttered out a, “it’ll be hot, wouldn’t it?”

Squirming, because Chanyeol  _ really  _ did know his body, Baekhyun couldn’t help the flushing of his cheeks (the ones on his face, thank you very much) as his arms rested on the broad shoulders of his boyfriend. Baekhyun’s hands were playing with the faint wisps of hairs at the nape of Chanyeol’s neck, before quickly reaching up to grip the hairs at the back of his head when Chanyeol played with a  _ specific  _ part of his  _ own _ neck. 

Moaning lightly, Baekhyun subtly shook his head, trying to pull his mind away from the gutter so that he could ask the burning question. “... W—What role play do you wanna do, Love?” 

At this, Chanyeol slowly pulled back, eliciting a whine from Baekhyun at him stopping his ministrations. Smirking, before pulling his lower lip behind his teeth, Chanyeol stared up at the almost  _ wrecked _ looking Baekhyun, his own eyes at half mast.

“The classic,” Chanyeol murmured, lips coming up to press against Baekhyun’s own soft ones, “Professor and Teaching Assistant.” 

… Baekhyun  _ loved _ the sound of that. 

 

* * *

 

Smiling their thanks at the hostess, Chanyeol and Baekhyun made their way over to their table, having caught sight of their friends already seated. 

“Here come the lovebirds,” Sehun muttered under his breath, bringing his hand back down from where it was waving in the air. Receiving a rather harsh nudge in his ribs from Kyungsoo, Sehun tried to hide his wince when the couple started to take the last two seats.

Since Yixing was flying off to Changsha in two days, the group (consisting of the three professors, the two TAs, and the two students) decided to have a final dinner before Yixing left. Moreover, it also acted as somewhat of a “commemoration” dinner; to signify the end of a painful, yet thrilling and fun semester. 

“What the hell took you guys so long?” Jongin asked, displeasure at having to wait for almost 30 minutes for the couple apparent on his features, “I’m  _ starving _ .”

Rolling his eyes, Baekhyun pointed at the empty plate situated closest to the student. “You probably ate that like two minutes ago, so don’t lie to me.”

Scoffing in an attempt to deny the statement, Jongin began vehemently shaking his head, although the faint red staining his ears spoke otherwise. 

“Nevermind him,” Jongdae interrupted, eyes narrowed in suspicion as he glared at Chanyeol, “what  _ did _ take you guys so long?”

At that, Chanyeol merely smirked as he clasped a reddening Baekhyun’s hand in his own. 

“Well,” the  _ professor _ began, playful eyes shifting over to Sehun as he pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket, “we were just…  _ helping _ Sehun carry out a certain something, that was all.”

Eyes immediately widening, Sehun jolted out form his seat and quickly snatched the paper grasped loosely in the professor’s hand. Eyes swimming over its contents, Sehun immediately groaned.

_ Of course _ , it was the game plan sheet for Phase 3 of their Operation: GBBLBPPC. 

“You mean to tell me you already got to  _ fourth base _ ?”

“It’s called a home run, you idiot.”

“Shut up Kim Jongin, nobody cares about baseball.”

“Uh, no, the whole of South Korea does. It’s practically a national sport, dumbass.”

“Nobody ask—”

“ _ Yes _ ,” Chanyeol quickly intervened, cutting the bickering between the two youngest members, realising how loud it could get and stopping it before it could get there, “ _ we have _ .”

…

…

…

“ _ WHAT _ ?!”

“ _ My Baekkie! His innocence! Tainted! Gone! All because of a giant freak of fucking nature! _ ”

“...  _ wow, that’s fast _ .”

“...  _ Why am I not surprised _ .”

  
  
  


 

“ _ God fucking damn it, I even bought the maid costume! One size smaller, even! _ ”

  
  
  


 

“You know, Sehun,” a deep breath, a slight pause, “maybe you shouldn’t dabble into playing cupid anymore, since none of it ever goes according to plan.”

“With all due respect Professor Kim, I’d like you to keep mum right about now, thanks.”

  
  


 

~~ Baekhyun had managed to convince Sehun to give him the costume though, having an inkling that Chanyeol would like it. ~~

~~ And  _ boy _ , did his boyfriend  _ like _ it alright. ~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's it! Thank you guys so much for reading this, it was honestly so much fun to write! 
> 
> Once again, if you guys have any comments or thoughts you'd like to share (and this includes constructive criticism!), please do share them with me down in the comments below! Also, if you'd like, you can hmu on twitter, @zkxxdlin; I also do prompts there! Let's be friends there too! :D 
> 
> Anyway, thank you once again, and see you in the next story! :D


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